<p>UT withdrew from the National Merit program in 2009 – so even the Texas kids who are current college freshman knew before taking their junior year PSAT that they wouldn’t be getting any benefit from UT if they made semifinalist – so prospects for a full ride from UT definitely weren’t motivating the current crop of NMSF seniors at the time that they were prepping for the test. (And I may be wrong, but I think that Texas never gave a full ride – I think that it was just a couple thousand a year. A&M, in contrast, often comes up with a package that equates to at least full tuition for NMFs – but most of their scholarship funding isn’t tied explicitly to being a NMF.) </p>
<p>UT really doesn’t do much in the way of merit scholarships for anyone – NMF or otherwise. My daughter, who was a NMF with loads of other achievements, didn’t get a cent of scholarship money from Texas though she got large merit from every other school to which she applied.</p>