when are the $2500 scholarships awarded?
@Culbreath, I don’t understand what you mean by - “I have seen some universities will make up the difference if their NM award is higher than NMSC.” What will they make up? Isn’t university’s award (such as presidential scholarship or full tuition etc) always higher than NMSC’s $2500? So what do they have to make up? Also, is NMSC’s $2500 total or per year?
March 25 - NMSC mails offers of National Merit $2500 Scholarships
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Is this the same as National Merit Scholar? Out of 15000 finalists, they choose around 7500 and offer the Scholar awards?
OK, here is an example. NMSC awards your kid the $2500 award, which is a one-time award. The school where your kid is going (such as USC) typically offers $4k for the NMSC award, spread over 4 years (or $1k per year). Your kid cannot get both, so some (I think most?) schools will say, too bad, you got the $2500 award from NMSC, and that’s it for you. @Culbreath was saying that some schools make up the difference between the $2500 and the $4000 and give your kid extra money for years 2-4. I personally don’t know of schools that do this, but there may be some that do.
I cannot stress this enough: the Presidential and full tuition awards available at some schools are NOT the NMSC sponsored awards we are discussing here. The awards that make your kid a scholar through sponsor colleges amount to NO MORE than $2k per year. The presidential and full tuition awards are over and above the NMSC sponsored awards.
As one example, my d20 attends FSU on their Benacquisto Scholarship for NM Scholars. It amounts to her full cost of attendance. However, she also receives a stacking amount of $500 per year as her sponsor award through NMSC. This $500 award is the one that makes her a National Merit Scholar. The Benacquisto award is totally separate (although it is dependent on her NMS status).
I know this is totally confusing - it’s because each school operates differently and gives out different scholarship amounts, etc. But it’s important to distinguish between the different awards to make sure you have a handle on how each school operates and how their procedures interact with NMSC’s awards.
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Yes and no. Only about 2500 NMF’s are selected by NMSC for the $2500 award. When you reference the 7500 NMS, that number includes all NMF’s who receive corporate scholarships and those who choose to attend a sponsor college and thereby become NM Scholars. The final number will vary according to how many NMFs decide to attend sponsor colleges.
Every university is different, so the details differ depending on the school and how they structure the package. I would read very carefully the details on the website and call financial aid offices with any questions. That’s where you’ll get the best information.
You can only receive one National Merit award. It comes from NMSC, a sponsoring corporation, or a sponsoring university that you designate as your 1st choice by a certain date.
I stand corrected that you can in fact lose a piece of the NM award if the NMSC or corporate award is smaller than the university award. For example, the NMSC award is $2500 but UTD’s NM award is $3000 (I just emailed them to confirm). So the student could lose $500 if they select UTD but are awarded $2500 from NMSC. However, the full COA award that UTD tacks onto the NM award is still available to the student. So the larger award (in the case of BU it’s the Presidential Scholarship) is still available to the student if they are named a National Merit Scholar by either NMSC, a corporation, or university. Note I do not know if BU pays a NM award on top of the Presidential Scholarship or it’s somehow embedded in the $25,000. If my son were considering that school, I would call them to get the details.
My earlier comment was meant to say, if a university offers, for example, $4000 for NM and they are awarded $2500 from NMSC, I have seen somewhere a school say they will pay the additional $1500 to the student to make them whole for the $4000. I do not believe any school will make a student ineligible for a large award because NMSC awarded them the $2500. However, in this example the school will not pay $4000 on top of the $2500.
Many universities do not pay anything for NMF. Some pay the $2000. Others offer a much larger “package” of which one small piece is the NM scholarship of $2000 or so. Winning the NMSC $2500 does not make a student ineligible for the larger scholarship package.
Does that make sense? I’m afraid I may just be confusing the matter.
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That’s correct about UTD. It’s either 2,500 directly from NMSC or 3,000 from UTD distributed over 4 years. In either case, the student gets full tuition + $.4000 + $.1,500 (if living on campus) per semester.
The NMCS money is distributed through the college the student attends.
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Thank you @Culbreath and @amsunshine. Now I think I understand the whole picture. I was getting confused between NM scholarship and some college’s larger “package” which in fact as you explained - are two different things.
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Pls tell me if my understanding is correct. There are basically 3 categories of NM awards.
- 2500 NM scholar awards of $2500 each
- College Sponsored Merit awards which require you to designate them as their first choice.
- And the last one is Corporate Sponsored Merit Award.
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yes, that is correct.
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My kid is now officially a NMF 
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Congratulations! Which state are you in?
Texas
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Thanks. I haven’t heard anything for my son yet, here in north New Jersey.
Did you guys receive the mail or just word from principal?
I emailed the counselor to check in, and they had just gotten the mail confirmations today.
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I just sent an email to my son’s counselor now. Hopefully, they have heard something.
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Just got a call from my principle- I’m a NMF!!! (PA)
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Congratulations to all the finalists! Hoping to hear soon at our house.
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