<p>Hey there, Check this article out: Auburn NM scholars (181, 158 are sponsored by the college)
[Auburn</a> University enrolls record number of National Merit Scholars | Wire Eagle](<a href=“http://wireeagle.auburn.edu/news/4098]Auburn”>http://wireeagle.auburn.edu/news/4098)
Auburn was ranked 9th overall, 2nd in public institutions (Oklahoma was first) in number of enrolled National Merit Scholars. Auburn is also 2nd in the SEC – Vanderbuilt being first with 226. I will note that Auburn and Alabama are actually tied in number of scholars. I thought that UA actually had one more than Auburn, but perhaps one withdrew. War Eagle!</p>
<p>With the reduction in scholarship funds, next year will be different, but it’s a nice accomplishment to savor for the moment. Who knows, maybe AU will re-establish full tuition for new NM OOS students in the future.</p>
<p>Where did you see that they tied? I had read that UA had one more than AU, but maybe you are right that one left UA. UA hasn’t marketed their ranking in NMS so maybe they lost more than one. dunno. Anyway, it is a great achievement to have two schools do so well is such a relatively poor state.</p>
<p>For those who are interested in the numbers, from the actual breakdown of the competition, to the distribution of awards, this document may be interesting. The complete list of scholars at each school begins on page 38.(?) AU and UA each have 181 scholars. Auburn-sponsored awards totaled 158, UA-sponsored awards totaled 144. These last two numbers just mean that the two universities, and not a corporation, or the NMSC itself, supported the National Merit portion of the scholarship. Both universities also award their own additional scholarships (the tuition awards, tech and room stipends, enrichment funds, etc.) that are separate from the NMSC funds. It’s a little confusing, but in the long run, the awards are very lucrative, and demonstrate the fantastic generosity of the 2 institutions.</p>
<p>With the reduction in scholarship funds, next year will be different, but it’s a nice accomplishment to savor for the moment. Who knows, maybe AU will re-establish full tuition for new NM OOS students in the future.</p>
<p>Are you saying there will definitely be changes in the scholarships that will be offered to the OOS NMF & NMSF s who apply to Auburn next year?</p>
<p>I don’t know if there will be any changes to the current awards offered to OOS NMFs.</p>
<p>My comment is related to the fact that AU used to award full tuition to OOS NMF – they changed this award (starting with the upcoming fall class) to $15,000 a year (a little over 2/3 of OOS tuition). AU trimmed the tech stipend and enrichment experience stipend for all recipients as well. The OOS NMFs in the 2011 freshman class (of which my D is a member) were awarded full OOS tuition. </p>
<p>My hope is that in the future, AU will be able to restore funding so that they can again offer full tuition to new OOS NMFs.</p>