Was your son able to see his USC scholarship status yesterday?
Very happy to say son got accepted into BU and he listed this as his first choice and received the 25k presidential scholarship as well. The offer letter clearly said he got this for being the NMF!!! Very happy for him!
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He doesn’t know anything was out there and I didn’t say anything.
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My son got the $2500 which I think we can add to what Texas A&M already guarantees to NMFs. Every little bit helps, so we’re happy!!
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@amsunshine Can you pls let me know if my understanding is correct?
My S21 received his BU acceptance couple of days back and received the 25k presidential scholarship award due to his designating BU as his first choice on nmsc portal before March 1st. He didn’t become the national merit scholar. My question is, in 2 days, we are receiving our USC decision, if he gets in at USC, can we change our first choice to USC by May 1st and still receive their half tuition? Are we allowed to do that? I read the below msg on USC website :
Students who are National Merit Finalists and select USC as their first-choice school with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) are guaranteed a half-tuition scholarship if they are admitted as a first-year student. Finalists will receive the Presidential award notification after their name is confirmed on the official roster from NMSC in the spring. Finalists have until May 31 to notify NMSC of their first-choice college.
Since you received the presidential scholarship designated for NMF at BU, your son has become a National Merit Scholar under the sponsorship from BU. Therefore, he is no longer eligible for the Presidential Scholarship at USC for NMF. I hope I am wrong.
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I don’t believe the Presidential scholarship is the NMSC college sponsored award. The college sponsored award will be much smaller than $25k.
If I were you, I would call BU to confirm what the actual college sponsored award is which is administered through NMSC. Also, call NMSC to double check that you still have time to change the first choice designation.
ETA: the Presidential award at USC is not a college sponsored award administered through NMSC. The college sponsored award at USC is $1k per year for four years.
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Very good point. It’s always good to check with NMSC.
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Thank you! Will check once we receive our USC decision. Appreciate all your advises…
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Just concerned/curious with BU’s wording on their acceptance letter to my son which states :
Congratulations! On behalf of the Board of Admissions, I’m excited to welcome you to the Boston University Class of 2025. You have been admitted ——- and chosen among a select group of peers to receive a prestigious $25,000 Presidential Scholarship. This honor recognizes your designation as a National Merit Finalist by the National Merit Scholarship Competition.
Does it indicate any hidden meaning? Like college sponsored award?
No. The key words there are “national merit finalist”. This is an award for NMFs, not NM Scholars. That is similar to USC’s Presidential award.
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I’m not sure that USC awards the college sponsored award on top of the half-tuition NM Presidential. I think that the half tuition Presidential may designate a student as a scholar by itself.
My gut instinct is that you can’t choose one school as your first choice, be awarded a scholarship and then say, “Just kidding, another school is my first choice.”
Yeah, it’s troubling to me too. That’s why I advise people to call NMSC to double check.
I realize USC may not stack the college sponsored award, but there has to be something awarded. For example, Fordham gives a full tuition award for NMSF. They also award a college sponsored $2k through NMSC, but it’s just absorbed in the full tuition award. At least, that was how it was explained to us last year. Every college has its own crazy methods it seems.
It’s very clear in one of the paragraphs :
Remember, if you report a college as first choice, you can always change your mind. However, be careful not to miss NMSC’s deadline for reporting this change. Technically you have until May 31 to change your first choice. However if a college offers you an award and NMSC goes out with an announcement of that award on May 1, then you are no longer able to transfer the college sponsorship, and you will be ineligible at the new institution. Therefore to be safe, make sure you report your new first choice to NMSC by April 30 at the latest. This makes sense, since you’ll be deciding where to enroll by then anyway!
It’s been a few years now but when my D was a NMF at USC, she got the half tuition scholarship, a $1,000 a year college sponsored NM Scholar award, and a $3750 per year University Scholarship (merit based).
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Awesome! Thanks for verifying. So it looks like both half-tuition and full-tuition merit scholarships recipients, who are not designed as scholars by NMSC, should receive the college sponsored NM scholar award.
Just to clarify, the $3750/year university scholarship was not related to NM, right?
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Not directly, but it was common for the USC NMF Presidential recipients to also receive a University Scholarship of varying amounts.
I’m not sure why everyone is so concerned about the designation of National Merit Scholar. Why? The key is the NMF. If you choose a school with a scholarship tied to NMSC, you are a NMS. But, again, why is that important? I have two sons that were NMF. One went to Notre Dame. They do not offer any NM based aid, therefore he is “simply” a NMF. The other son was accepted to ASU in their National Merit Scholars program. The NMSC portion of the scholarship is $250 per semester. The remaining ~$30k is from the University as part of their program. He is a NMS. It really doesn’t mean anything to me.
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Some NMS stipends are more significant than $250 per semester. Also, to some people, even a small amount is significant. Not everyone can be so privileged as to scoff at $500 per year.
Really? Again with the privilege? I’m not scoffing at it. My point is, as others above have noted, for most schools, the NMS award is small in comparison to the funds offered by the school under the title of a “National Merit Scholarship”. Trust me, I welcome every penny of support for my boys as they pursue their education. I cannot afford the combined price tag of over $100k per year for my two sons’ education.
I am just confused that there appears to be an emphasis on being a “Scholar” on this thread. I saw it three years ago when my sons were going through this process. The point of my post is that the NMSC portion is usually not the significant source of funds. The schools that offer the big $$ do so through their own funding, not NMSC.
I do not ‘scoff’ at any funds. One of my NMF sons was really hoping to get into USC. The unfortunate reality is that I would not have been able to afford USC, even with the Presidential scholarship. Half tuition is still in the $30k range. I am not scoffing at the award, just accepting reality that for my financial situation, it would not be feasible.