I believe Texas resident valedictorians get free first year tuition. You just file proof of class rank at end of senior year. So that’s like a 25% tuition reduction over four years . Others can correct me if I am misunderstanding this benefit.
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You are correct. But that’s not A&M merit aid, that’s a state thing.
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The way TAMU recommended is request through high school counselor. You can have inform your teacher to send the LORs to your school counselor, and have your counselor upload for you. That way the teacher’s identity is verified.
From AIS->Click Button “Request items from my high school counselor”
Note that for Engineering Honor application, it has a totally different portal for submitting LOR. (Admission to Engineering Honors | Texas A&M University Engineering)
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Money is money
@Desertpalm11 unless he’s NM (semi, finalist), President’s Endowed/Lechner/McFadden won’t be awarded until spring. NM qualifies automatically.
Being an Aggie legacy is wonderful, but holds no meaning, as far as big scholarships or helping with admission.
There are post after post yearly on both Aggie Parent FB pages, about high achievers not receiving scholarships. Something like 700+ valedictorians last year that didn’t receive any $$ from A&M. There are 12,459 in the current freshman class. That’s a LOT of kids, most being over-achievers with amazing stats & resumes.
Other schools, especially OOS, dangle scholarships and matching funds, cause they love Texas kids…and those schools usually aren’t as competitive to get into.
Your student will need to decide if money is more important or being an Aggie.
*Scholarships can be awarded thru the summer and into the school year, and departmental awards usually come after freshman year.
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I hear ya. We’ll be patient, but it’s nice to be rewarded for hard work. Considering he wants to do medical or dental after bachelor’s, I suspect he’ll follow the money.
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And yes, my nephew was one of those valedictorians a few years ago who was offered zero too. It happens.
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@Desertpalm11 i hear ya! And totally agree. But there just isn’t enough $$ to give to everyone.
A&M greatly ‘rewards’ NM (Semi, Finalist) and need based. Being Commended still keeps your son in line for Lechner or McFadden (and possibly PES); it’ll all boil down to how many NM there are, and how many spots are still open. I personally know a kid who was awarded either Lechner or McFadden in the spring, didn’t check FinAid portal all summer and just before school started he checked…he had been bumped up to PES! He was a day away from losing it, by not accepting sooner. So tell your son to check periodically during the summer (if he ends up at TAMU).
If he plans to attend professional school after undergrad, following the $$ definitely makes sense.
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@littleshine unless they have greatly upped the timeline for Brown, those in the running just got notified for interview process mid December. I think that person who posted jumped the gun; Brown interviews usually don’t even take place until after the holidays, it’s quite a process.
Ok. My daughters AIS didn’t have that screen you are showing in the screenshot but we didn’t check after app was complete and submitted. We were looking during the application process to submit with the application. I haven’t seen that request items from my high school counselor button ever but I haven’t looked at AIS since acceptance and have just looked at howdy with her since acceptance. Her degree program didn’t require letters it was optional and when we emailed to ask we were told by AO to use the supplemental documentation tab to upload a pdf of the letter.I wonder if that option only appears when it is required for admission to a certain degree program?
LOR is optional for all freshmen application. It is possible once accepted that option is gone. After the button is gone, the only option is submit via document upload.
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That’s interesting to see and the first post I’ve seen talking about any real movement with the scholarships for class of 2026.
I was surprised to see the post this morning as well. It is on the Aggie Parents of Engineering Students.
I think I was mixing up AIS with applyTexas in my post. 
we didn’t know to go and do it via AIS after completing app via applytexas . We were just told to add as supplemental document in applytexas. Like @pinkmomma mentionned there isn’t a good way to do it via applytexas. At the time the whole application process via applytexas and each college’s version of AIS was a lot to figure out!
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Yes, this year ApplyTexas undergoes major change causing a lot of delay in August. Most universities will avoid having such information through general application portals like ApplyTexas, common app and coalition. Universities at times do verify the source of LOR information.
The LOR submission process was mentioned in regional advisor joint event (usually held in August/September) when regional advisors from TAMU, TTU and UT will answer questions from applicants. UT portal has a very friendly and discrete LOR submission process. Many applicants ask TAMU on that and the advisors states that TAMU prefer collecting LORs, grade distribution report and high school requirement report through designated high school counselors.
The student uploaded version of LOR may have different process of handling in terms of verification and validating information.
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I think my child not having 2 LORs submitted & maybe his initial major of Biochemistry (under Ag College) are factors that did not qualify him for Brown Foundation Scholarship consideration. Kinda disappointing… At this stage of not hearing anything - it’s definitely a no!
For National Merit Finalists - does the student automatically receive:
PES - $3,000
NM Recognition Award - $7,000
NM Sponsorship - $500
What about if the NM Finalist is also a College Board National Hispanic Recognition Program - does the student get the additional Texas Resident National Recognition Scholarship of $6,000?
I believe so. My ‘23 CHEN son received
PES - $3,000
NM Recognition Award - $7,000
NM Sponsorship - $500
And
National Recognition Scholarship of $4,000 for OOS
And
OOS tuition waiver.
Even though my ‘26 son most like did not get Brown, but TAMU is still very generous on scholarship.
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Thanks for the clarification. My kid is super disappointed with not being invited to compete for the Brown - considering he’s the only NMSF from his HS & has a high index score.
What other type of merit based scholarships are there at TAMU (scholarships NOT based on financial need)?
@pinkmomma here’s the list of incoming freshman scholarships. Your son is already receiving a LOT + getting In-State tuition. There’s Maroon Scholarship for OOS, but outside of that, what he’s getting is HUGE.
https://scholarships.tamu.edu/FRESHMEN/University-Scholarships
Thank you! We’ve looked at that list & there’s nothing else available since the academic scholarships are not stackable & the others have a financial need component as a criteria.
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