“Completing a FAFSA is not a condition of qualifying for the Benacquisto Scholarship from the State of Florida.”
FSU required it of my son but he was also awarded other scholarships there, so could have been a condition for non-Benacquisto FSU scholarships.
Agree with @vistajay - probably due to the school component of the scholarship. UCF patches together scholarships to fully cover OOS NMF. The way it was explained to me was that the school just wanted to make sure that IF the student qualified for anything via the FAFSA, that pot of money paid first and then the school made up the rest to cover the NMF students. Honestly, the FAFSA is not terribly hard or time consuming. We only qualify for merit but completed and submitted it to all schools so we were covered with those schools that require it for merit as well - better safe than sorry!
Does anyone have experience to share with U.Alabama? My S19 was invited to interview for the Randall Research Scholars Program in a few weeks. We haven’t visited yet, but very interested to check it out. The itinerary is completely student-focused, but one parent will tag along as well.
@midwest mom9 - My DS and I visited U of A in November. He was not excited about visiting, but I made him go because of the generous scholarship for NMFs. He ended up LOVING it! He really liked the campus, and everyone was super friendly. We’ve been on some college tours where everyone looked grumpy and where we felt invisible to every person on campus. At Bama, many people smiled and greeted us (both students and faculty) and just genuinely seemed happy to be there. It just had a great feel all around. I’m not sure what his final decision will be, but he has been very high on Bama since that day. We’re going back on Monday to meet with some Honors students and faculty in the STEM MBA program, so if our “feel” of things changes, I’ll let you know.
I wish my DS had looked at the other opportunities he could have applied for. He’s applied and been accepted into Honors and STEM MBA, but he didn’t know about the RRSP. :-/
Thanks @gamom2023 It’s great to hear your son ended up liking your visit so much! We are in Michigan, so I am curious to see how my son likes Tuscaloosa and campus. We just had an entire of week of school cancelled due to winter weather, so AL winter may seem like a big plus:) The NMF scholarship is really amazing - that’s why I asked my son to check it out and apply, and our regional advisor really sold it when we met with him up here. Good luck with your second visit - I would love to hear how it goes!
@midwest mom9 - Yes, our southern winters are a little friendlier than yours. 
We’re in GA, so there’s not much love for Bama over here in UGA Dawg country (and my DD is already at UGA - Go Dawgs!), which is why he didn’t have any interest. It was fun to watch his preconceived notions disappear once he was actually on campus in Tuscaloosa. Hopefully, you’ll have a good weather day when you’re there. I think that can make a big difference in how you feel about the place.
I’ll try to remember to post about our second visit. We’re going on Sunday so we can get more of a feel for the area and check out the river there before our long scheduled day on Monday. This time, his dad, who is a U of Miami alum is going with us, now that we’ve realized it’s a real contender. I don’t know how a 'Cane dad is going to feel about having a Bama son, but as generous as they seem to be to NMFs, I imagine he’ll get over it quickly.
My son was just accepted to University of Miami with a 20k scholarship. Apparently that should stack with Benacquisto, even as an out of state student. Has anyone been in contact with admissions/financial aid this year about the process for receiving the Benacquisto scholarship if he becomes NMF?
@midwest mom9. I made my son pick at least one school with a large NMF scholarship, and he did the research and applied to Alabama. We visited last October and we were both impressed. He’s been invited to the Randall Research interviews and I think if he gets into that program it’s likely he’ll attend.
One of the things that was important to my son is access to a good hike (he’s a nature-loving Colorado boy), so we spent a little extra time out there and explored the area. While Alabama doesn’t have the elevation gain we do there is a lot of natural beauty and he thought Tuscaloosa felt a lot “like home”–not in a “he would feel at home there” way, but a “this literally feels like suburban Denver, but without mountains” sort of way.
Alabama seemed very well run and easy to navigate–changing majors is easy, AP credit is generous, people were friendly, and we encountered kids from all over the country. We never would have looked at Alabama without the generous NMF scholarahip, but now it’s a real contender for my son.
@gamom2023. If your DS is interested in research, there are opportunities at Bama other than the RRSP. (Research opportunities are really important to my DS so that was one of the things we focused on when we visited in in the fall.) There is a program called Emerging Scholars, and we also met several undergrads involved in research outside of any formal program. Since Bama doesn’t have as many grad students as a lot of schools it’s size, professors have undergrads in their labs. When we asked students how they found the opportunities they said that professors will just make announcements in class regarding what they are working on and ask if anyone is interested. The professors usually don’t have funding, but can offer credit for the work.
@Colorado19and22 - Thanks for letting me know about that! I’ve tried to find the right balance of helping my son get everything done for all his applications and letting him be responsible enough to find out all he needs to do. So, I’m sad that he missed the RRSP, but I’m excited to hear about the Emerging Scholars Program. I looked it up and will send him the link to see if it’s something he wants to pursue. Thanks for the tip! Now, off to see what else we might have missed. :-/
So tomorrow (2/4/19) that schools are notified of Finalist status…is this done electronically? Or does this mean that a letter is sent out to schools?
@SpaghettiMom National Merit does things the old-fashioned way. Snail mail letters will go out tomorrow. Hope that the homeschoolers report in by the end of yhe week.
I was wondering if anyone has heard anything from schools. When do the students get notified ?
not where I can link it but you should check out another thread (below) where many people are discussing status. at this point, no one has posted that their schools have received notice:
thread is: National Merit Finalist (Class of 2019) - rejection/acceptance letter
Thank you so much !
A family in Ohio heard from their school counselor today. They posted on the rejection/acceptance letter thread. Hopefully the rest of us will know soon!
Nothing in Illinois yet, but the school will not make an announcement or notify families until kids get the info on their own. Letters should be arriving tomorrow (actually, it’s today).
We have a view of the envelope in USPS informed delivery today. No notification from school yet.
Same here in NorCal, regular-sized letter from NMSC in USPS Informed Delivery today. Not a word from school, which is strange since they notified the students very quickly when semi-finalists came out last year. Oh well…
My son received the letter today. We’re in NJ.