vistajay Wait until you see the Full Cost of Attendance for one year in the portal. (UF today) My stress level dropped tremendously this a.m.
@menloparkmom - good point, since the forfeit only occurs if NMSC has already sent you a sponsored offer and they begin sending those out on 5/1. So I guess even if you have received a one-timer, but plan to switch your college-sponsor, then sometime prior to 5/1 either let NMSC know know of the other choice or that you are now ‘uncertain’.
Totally agree that NMSC isn’t in the business of denying scholarships to worthy recipients but also guessing there is a lot of strategy and switching going on last minute which can be an administrative headache. They have to impose some reasonable deadline; 5/1 makes sense as it’s the mail-out date for those college sponsor awards. Once mailed out, that’s it.
And in prior years posters would wonder why this contest takes so long to wrap up! LOL.
@FSUdad93 , we are OOS and so don’t expect that to hit the portal til July at least, as state ramps up the OOS extension. But yea, that will be nice!
Vistajay We are also OOS so the new Benacquisto was still a “sweater” for us. DOE in Florida was a bit behind. Its website doesn’t update until July 1st every year. But it updated the new law early. UF updated his account yesterday to show the FULL COA. The long haul is over. We had applied to all three in Florida, UCF, FSU and UF. UCF was a done deal until the Governor signed the BILL. Then my S18 chose UF although he was a lifetime Nole Fan with Nole parents. Curious to see how this plays out for future NMF.
Vistajay It is here. The site is a bit down.
2018 Legislative Review book
www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7749/…/LegisReviewBook18.pdf
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
Apr 30, 2018 … 1009.893, F.S., Benacquisto Scholarship Program, to: • Provide the opportunity for students from out-of-state to be eligible to participate in the …
FSU also updated S18’s FA account yesterday to show full COA Benacquisto OOS NMF award!
Did the $1000 per year NMSC award ever show up on your kid’s MyBama student portal? I may have missed it if you answered that.
I don’t know how it works at other schools, but S has an award in his NMSC portal - I think it’s $500 - that is technically part of his UNM full ride. It only shows in the NMSC portal. It does not show up as a separate line item in his UNM scholarship portal.
@DiotimaDM
Thats why I ask. I have heard it both ways anecdotally.
@DavidPuddy , S18’s $500 NMSC award for FSU shows up in both his FSU FA portal and his NMSC portal. Just a day or two ago they both showed up. He had to login to NMSC portal and accept the $500 award.
Right @vistajay, for FSU .
I am curious what it looks like for Alabama. The NMSC one was accepted a week or so ago, and is confirmed. However nothing changed in his MyBama portal. (and to @DiotimaDM s point, I am not sure if it should, hence the question.)
@DavidPuddy , sorry I thought you were seeking general responses in addition to Bama specific.
NMSC awards (even college-sponsored) should be accepted on the NM portal, if that option is offered. Also, check your NM portal daily in May if you are expecting or wondering about an award, since they will be finishing up sending these out over the next week or so.
Those who received Benacquisto in Florida: Is it possible to take a double major and have the Benacquisto pay for it?
It reads 5 years or until your majors hours are done. It appears to be 12 hrs X 10 semesters or 15 hrs X 8. I assume it also counts your AP exempt hours in that total. What’s the best way to use this scholarship? A major and minor? 2 majors? A BS and some partial grad?
@FSUdad93 , thats the way I read it too. We have FSU orientation this week so I am going to discuss with academic advisors. S18 does not have a specific interest in a double major, or even a minor, at this time; but I want this option in the back of his brain for consideration as he encounters new academic interests.
Awesome. Let me know.
Hoping to get some advice from all of you NMF experts! S19 is a possible NMSF next fall (PSAT SI 221 in CO.) He is chasing merit regardless of NMSF status but will only add in UCF and UF if he makes the cut and we will try to do a quick visit to both next fall if that happens. I know that UCF does a special tour for NMSF but does UF? Does UF have a special NMF contact, etc? Thanks for any and all advice!
@mountainmomof3 UF has none of those things. They treat the Benacquisto scholarship (state sponsored NMF scholarship) like they do the other state sponsored scholarships (like Florida’s Bright Futures scholarships), in that they will handle the paper work, process the scholarship (pay tuition, etc., and then deposit the money in his bank account), and automatically defer any payments.
If you tour UF, I would recommend the standard admissions tour, the honors program tour, and based on his tentative major, perhaps a college tour (like the College of engineering tour). You can usually do the standard admissions tour in the morning and then the College or Honor’s program tour at/after lunch.
@Gator88NE - that is the information I was looking for! Thank you!