The following is from the “Requirements and Instructions For Semifinalists” from NMSC:
REPORT OF A SPONSOR COLLEGE AS FIRST CHOICE
Consideration for a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award is limited to Semifi nalists who qualify as
Finalists and who also
report to NMSC that a sponsor college is their fi rst choice (see the list of college sponsors included in
the “Competition Instructions” section of the OSA and at nationalmerit.org/resources.php);
have applied for admission to the sponsor college; and
have not been offered any other National Merit Scholarship (corporate-sponsored, National, or another
college-sponsored award). No student will receive more than one scholarship offer from NMSC.
A college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award can be used only at the institution financing it and therefore
is canceled if the winner changes college choice.
I’m specifically concerned about #3 on that list. If they even OFFER my daughter another award (like the $2500 scholarship directly from NMSC), she will no longer be eligible to accept a better NMF award from a college/university? Is that true?
No, that is not true. You can accept both. The one stipulation is that the smaller award from NMSC has to be used on tuition, fees or books, in other words, the nontaxable expenses. If you were to accept an absolute full ride, like TTU, you probably could not accept the NMSC award but most universities with NM scholarships leave enough costs on the table to be able to accept it. Mostly, they do not cover books.
My understanding is that you have to have your first choice college submitted by May 1st, and then all is well. No scholarship money is offered before this date. You might receive an award that is a small sum from nmsc and a larger award from the college. They are not going to take away a large scholarship from the college and give you $2500 nmsc money instead.
I’m pretty sure you get the largest of any one award offered but you will not get an award from more than 1 source. So if the college award is larger than $2500 you get it and not the corporate/national. Sometimes schools will give you a boost for getting NMS such as at USC. If you take the USC 1/2 tuition Presidential scholarship and then are awarded the NMS they give you an extra $1000 for the next 4 years on top of the 1/2 tuition.
Actually, you can receive both. I did check with the school before my DD accepted a corporate award from NMSC. They indicated there was no issue and there has not been. The award from the school is not from NMSC but from the school itself therefore my DD only got 1 scholarship from NMSC.
My D got the $2500 NMS. Her school (a private) did not give her their school sponsored scholarship her first year because the NMS was more than theirs. However, in years 2-4, she did get the school sponsored scholarship. So I think the scholarships are handled differently depending on the school.
Its unnecessarily convoluted, but it basically boils down to there are two different “ways” (for lack of a better word) to for an NMF to get a scholarship.
1 There are the ones awarded/distributed by NMSC. These can be FUNDED by NMSC itself, or a corporation, or a school.
2 Then there are the ones awarded/distributed directly by the schools themselves.
An NMF can only get one from source #1. (That’s that verbiage you were concerned about.) An NMF can get one from source #1 and one from source #2. And as some have mentioned, the school can deduct from their award, just so they wont stack. Still, your student gets the larger amount, not the smaller one!
My DS has the NMF package from Bama. Then he received (via NMSC) a Bama-sponsored scholarship. Bama decreased DS’s stipend so that he would reach the same total. (Weird, but whatever. He gets to keep the big number.)
So it also sounds like accepting a NMF award from a school (like full ride or full tuition) does not take you out of the running for the scholarships that are awarded directly from NMSC? That’s good to know!
So the NMF student can accept a corporate sponsored award of say $1000 x 4 years AND also accept a full tuition award (that is awarded to NMF) directly from their first choice college?
@ccsouth yes. In that case only the corporate sponsored award is administered by the NMSC. None of the full tuition or full ride awards that are out there are administered by NMSC. They are offered by the schools directly in order to attract NMFs to attend their school.