@traveler98. Thanks much. Your explanation couldn’t have been any clearer!!
“I believe if you receive either a Corporate, an NMSC $2500 or a College Sponsored $500 a year award , you are a “scholar”.”
Agreed. Louisville is a sponsoring school so maybe that is all there is to it. I called them when he was confirmed as NMF to see if they had any early deadline (March 1, etc.) and was told no.
Guess I am just wondering in this situation whether school would give a sponsored award if they have awarded a higher level competitive scholarship as well. Probably overthinking this.
Thank you @FSUdad93. Now confirmed.
DD just checked and got $2500 corporate sponsored scholarship.
My daughter just heard from the school that she is a finalist and that her achievement will be celebrated at an event on April 12th. Wow, I thought that boat sailed a long time ago 
@iAmACynic Lucky! My principal hasn’t said anything since October… 
Son finally logged on tonight and received a $2500 award. And he’s leaning heavily towards TAMU. It is full tuition vs. full ride, but its a top school for what he wants to study. Very grateful that this will help cover the rest.
As a side note, how amazing is it that so many good schools offer substantial awards for NMF? Truly fantastic opportunities.
@green26knight - My understanding is that the $2,500 NMSC award will not stack. TAMU offers a $2,000 NM sponsorship as part of the NM package. Unfortunately, you can only have one NM sponsored scholarship - either the $2,000 from TAMU or the $2,500 from NMSC. Obviously you would want to accept whichever is greater.
If I am wrong, somebody please correct me. We weren’t expecting the $2,500 award so I am just now researching how it all works.
We haven’t accepted the award yet. The first thing we did after reading through the fine print was send an email to the A&M National Scholar office to confirm how it works.
As I read the A&M info, I think the portion at risk is the $500 per year component of the total award. Given what I think is a the lack of clarity, we aren’t doing anything until we hear from A&M.
I will post the response when received.
Thank you, again, for highlighting the issue.
Thanks @green26knight - Hopefully their response will clear it up! I appreciate you offering to post their answer as it will help families like mine also considering A&M.
Do any of you fine folks know if the USC 1/2 tuition NMF scholarship is guaranteed when you select USC #1? Or is there an additional process?
Thanks!
@iAmACynic Yes it does seem overly confusing. Ultimately if you receive a scholarship (NM $2500, Corporate or College Sponsored) that you accept on the NMSC OSA web site you are a National Scholar.
The NM $2500 scholarships and Corporate sponsored scholarships were notified in March, the college sponsored scholarships are awarded May-June. I would guess that date is intentionally after the commitment date at the sponsoring college.
So the ~4000 college sponsored awards are basically up to the NMF student to apply and be admitted to one of the colleges that are part of the NMSC program. Then they become a National Scholar. The other 7500 NMFs I would guess are (by choice) not attending a college that is part of the NMSC program and were not awarded one of the other two types of NMF awards.
@green26knight I would like to know the same thing. USC never stated it is guaranteed officially, but from what I have read it seems in the past all NMF admitted got 1/2 tuition scholarship. There’s no additional steps other than declaring USC as college of choice by 5/1 from I knew.
I was told by multiple admissions officers that NMFs that are accepted and make USC their first choice are guaranteed the 1/2 tuition Presidential. My D was admitted today.
@green26knight @netopspin It is also my understanding that as long as USC is named #1 with NMSC by May 1st, the half tuition scholarship will come into play. NMF scholars at USC are treated like any other Presidential Scholar and so are eligible for McCarthy Honors College in the new USC Village and other perks like exceptional funding which allows you to take more than 18 credits without additional fees. @CADREAMIN is the expert on USC.
Congratulations to your kids! Fight on!
I can corroborate what kcheves says. If you are admitted to USC as a NMF and put them #1 with NMC, you receive the half tuition Presidential and can live in the MCCarthy Honors dorm. They also may tack on another $2000-$4000 University Scholarship later. @green26knight @netopspin
@green26knight @netopspin
@hafamama You are so sweet, trying to keep up with it all! I am pretty tired so just gonna post something that I answered in the USC2022 thread that was buried by thousands of posts today. This was asking about NMFs and then the difference in Presidential and NMF at USC which are both 1/2 tuition. Sorry I didn’t read through this thread except for hafamama’s post, hope I am not over-posting here…
For USC, you will get the NMF Presidential information in another letter very soon. It does not usually come with initial packet. I think they came the first week of April (not by April 1). It still was in plenty of time to make final decisions.
To get the 1/2 tuition NMF scholarship you must name USC with National Merit. You must do that first or USC doesn’t have the information they need. Need to do this by May 1st, and I think they get info before if you complete it earlier, but regardless, things aren’t processed till after the May 1st deadline anyway. So you can change up to then as well, from what I understand.
The letter you get from USC detailing the scholarship in the next couple of weeks (maybe even next week) - you will be required to sign and accept it. You will need to renew it with National Merit every year (very easy to do).
Differences — Why do NMF and have to renew each year if I am Presidential and get 1/2 anyway?
There can be other financial benefits of NMF - NMFs sometimes get a one time $2500 additional from the NMSF, but I believe all NMFs are offered another $1,000 per year University scholarship from USC. You can only choose one of these if they apply to you. There can also be departmental awards per Georgia Girl tacked on to USC NMFs.
I am plagiarizing what follows from a post made awhile back…I had it in my notes…
If a USC bound NMF is awarded one of the one time $2500 NMF scholarships, they CAN decline them AND then be eligible to receive the $ 1000/ per year scholarship, in addition to the 1/2 tuition NMF scholarship provided by USC.
No one receives BOTH the USC provided NMF $1000/ year AND the $2500 from NMC.
Students have to choose which NMF award to accept.
If you go to National Merit Corporation website, it will state it in more detail. Briefly, among the 15000 NMF, only 2500 will be chosen as the National Merit Scholarship winners. The award is a one time $2500 (one time) and I think the award has to be used for the first choice college you selected. But if you are not chosen for this one time award, USC will award you $1000/year for 4 years (it is called National Merit Scholarship on our USC bill). So, it was actually better in my S’s case to not be chosen for the one-time $2500 award since he ended up getting $4000 (total in 4 years). Also, as mentioned, USC also gave my S (and presumably other scholarship students) a $2000/year University Scholarship, which I found out that is also renewable for 4 years.
Trustee scholars who are also NMF’s can receive the additional $1000/ year to pay for books bought at the USC bookstore,additional lab fees, meals charged to meal plans - basically ANYTHING that is charged to their USC bursors acct.
Thank you @CADREAMIN! Your ability to provide timely and detailed information is surpassed only by your tolerance for people (like me) asking questions you’ve already answered. Very politely tolerant, I should add. You are a saint.
You’re welcome! Thanks for the kind words - have a great weekend and best of luck on the final countdown to May 1st! 
@hafamama thanks for the confirmation. We haven’t had chance to visit school, how do you and your DS like the McCarthy Honors College? It looks wonderful in picture comparing other residential halls. Though it doesn’t have air condition, I guess kids will not be in school for hottest 3 summer months. How’s the temperature like for late August and September in LA?