Corporate VS School VS NMSF awards

Paying for College National Merit Aid
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<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I was just wondering if anyone could help me understand how this program works. I am a bit confused about the levels of semi-finalist to finalist and how an award is designated for students who may be eligible for corporate awards.</p>

<p>I have a freshman who scored 211 in October for practice. When she takes the PSAT junior year, ( and hopefully increases her score) will there be an area on the form where she must indicate she is the dependent of an employee for one of the sponsoring corporations? Is it at that time that she designates the two schools she is most interested in attending? We are in Florida so if she makes the first cut, the NMSF will send us a letter and inform the school but at what point does the corporate part come into play? Can you receive corporate as well as the straight NMSF $2500.00 AND also $$ from the designated school?</p>

<p>If she doesn't make the cut for the actual $2500.00 from NMSF, aren't there corporate awards for just commended and semi-finalists and finalists?</p>

<p>Sorry for all the questions but it is confusing! Thought I should get it all straight now so we know what to do when Junior year arrives.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>[National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation - NMSP](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php]National”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php)</p>

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<p>In addition to the link above, there is a ton of information on this topic in this forum if you scroll through recent threads since there are questions from seniors who are figuring out if you can accept more than one of the categories as well as lots of questions from those juniors that just got notification of being in commended group.</p>

<p>You will also find threads listing those schools that provide large NMF awards and detailing what is included which is helpful.</p>

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<p>I have a freshman who scored 211 in October for practice. When she takes the PSAT junior year, ( and hopefully increases her score) will there be an area on the form where she must indicate she is the dependent of an employee for one of the sponsoring corporations? </p>

<p>— I don’t think so. I think the employee has to contact his employer. My H had to fill out a form for our two sons for his corporation. Check to see if there’s a deadline to fill out the form. Some corps require the form to be filled out in Fall of Junior year. </p>

<p>Is it at that time that she designates the two schools she is most interested in attending? </p>

<p>---- No. And don’t worry about that 2 school deal. It’s really nothing. That happens in Spring of junior year if she makes the initial cut. But again, it means nothing.</p>

<p>We are in Florida so if she makes the first cut, the NMSF will send us a letter and inform the school but at what point does the corporate part come into play? </p>

<p>---- If she makes NMF (named in Feb of senior year), then the corporation comes into play. </p>

<p>Can you receive corporate as well as the straight NMSF $2500.00 AND also $$ from the designated school?</p>

<p>---- No. you can only get ONE “official” NMF award. However, if the corporate one will be larger, let NMCorp know that you want that one instead. The NMCorp is one time 2500. </p>

<p>---- You can also get a big NMF school award IF the school designates most of the NMF award as “unofficial”. The schools that give huge awards normally do that. In those cases, you can get the corporate award AND get the school’s unofficial portion (which is usually the big one minus $1k.). My older son got the Corporate NMF and the unofficial big NMF scholarship from his undergrad.</p>

<p>If she doesn’t make the cut for the actual $2500.00 from NMSF, aren’t there corporate awards for just commended and semi-finalists and finalists?</p>

<p>---- Some corporations do this…not all. My younger son made commended, but missed the NMSF cutoff. He was awarded a NMCorp special scholarship which was funded by my H’s corporation.</p>

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<p>Saismom, it is very confusing. We just went thru the process and it still confuses me. EDIT: I just saw M2CK post above, and it gives you what you need to know,but I had already written my post so I will leave it.</p>

<p>First thing to understand is that some schools sponsor NM scholarships (some are large up to essentially a full ride, some are much smaller around $2000) and others do not offer anything to NM finalists. But, the thing to know is that if your finalist goes to a school that gives NM scholarships, they will always receive a scholarship provided they name that school as first choice by that school’s deadline. ANOTHER EDIT: OK, I just recalled that some schools NM scholarships might be competitive, so it may not be a total guarantee. </p>

<p>A portion of the finalists will get their NM award thru NM foundation. I believe they will get that money regardless of which school they go to. But this award is only $2500. However if they go to a school that gives a large NM scholarship, they will still get the large school scholarship, along with the $2500. I think some schools deduct the $2500 from their large award, and some give it in addition to the large award. If they go to a school with no NM award, then that will be what they get.</p>

<p>Same logic with the corporate award. I don’t think NM gives their $2500 offer to those offered corporate scholarships, but I could be wrong here.</p>

<p>Just to make it a bit more confusing, your finalist has to accept one of the three offers to be designated a NM scholar. Some schools will give awards to NM finalists, but they are not thru the NM foundation. So unless the finalist gets a NM $2500 or corporate award, technically they are not designated as a NM scholar. However for many top students at the higher ranked schools that don’t give NM awards, that is not any big deal.</p>

<p>My advice would be not to worry much about which of the three offers they get, as that seems to work itself out in the end. What you need to do is to learn what the schools you are interested in do for NM finalists and see how that fits with your finalists college plans. Very Generally speaking, most of the bigger awards come from larger state schools, while the more highly ranked schools do not give much if any NM scholarships. Some people are looking for big awards. To others, the awards are not that important. </p>

<p>Be aware that the schools’ offers can, and often do change from year to year. So when the time comes, you need to find the right people at your schools of interest and make sure they can answer your questions and help steer you thru the process.</p>

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<p>You are all so helpful! I know the guidance department at my daughter’s school is supposed to know all this but they really fell short for a friend of mine regarding the corporate part. I figured the extremely knowledgeable folks here would help. </p>

<p>This year our school had two NMS kids (one going to Stanford and one to MIT) and they both received the $2500.00. Another student took the University of Florida $ which I think is now only $1000.00 per year and another took the corporate ( same company my H works for) and it looks like it is up to $3000.00 renewable per year. </p>

<p>The two from last year both opted for Auburn and received the whole enchilada as well as extra $ from the engineering school. I am going to try to talk to the parents of the kid who received the corporate to see how they worked it</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>