<p>I’m trying to figure out which school to list as my first choice and was wondering what exactly can NM scholarship money be used for? Currently, West Point is my first choice, but tuition, room, and board are paid for. Is scholarship money specifically “earmarked” for these purposes? Thanks.</p>
<p>The COA for West Point may be higher than its scholarship award. Does WP provide for travel expenses? If not, then the $2500 (one time award) could be used towards that.</p>
<p>According to the National Merit website, the $2500 is not available for use at any of the service academies. My son’s first choice is the Naval Academy, but for National Merit purposes we are putting Texas A&M.</p>
<p>OK just to be clear-my son was undecided but sent the fax designating a first choice to be in the first round starting 3/1 and to demonstrate interest since his other top choice gives a full tuition scholarship and doesn’t care if they are first choice as long as they are notified by the April date.</p>
<p>After reading this I think we need to fax the card back again to NMSC and go back to undecided-which I hope is OK. My husband spoke to both schools involved and NMSC before that card was faxed in with a first choice and was very clear to all involved what the situation was and was never told if you get a NM offer from the first choice school and change your mind you cannot receive another offer even if you change by the April date.</p>
<p>This is very confusing and there are a lot of people out there giving information that may not be correct.</p>
<p>The literature from NMSC is actually pretty clear when you go back and read the finalist letter but there is just so much going on it is easy to overlook.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine there will be a problem going back to undecided since this has all happened before 3/1 but at this point I am concerned.</p>
<p>[National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation - Scholarships Awarded](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/faq_scholarship.php]National”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/faq_scholarship.php)
**</p>
<p>Where may scholarships be used?**</p>
<p>NMSC scholarship payments must be used exclusively for undergraduate education at a college or university in the United States that holds accredited status with a regional accrediting commission on higher education. NMSC Scholarships are not payable for attendance at service academies, virtual universities, or institutions that are limited in purpose or training.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You can always go back to undecided or change college choice but it has to be done before April 27th. Once you are informed that you have college scholarship, then you cannot change. </p>
<p>Here is the actual wording from NMSC, which hopefully will clear the confusion.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a></p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Schedule specific to college-sponsored awards:
March 1 through May 31, 2011: A Finalist who has reported a sponsor college as first choice by March 1 will be included in the first group referred to that institution for scholarship consideration.</p>
<p>Periodically NMSC will notify sponsors of additional Finalists who have reported (by May 31) the college or university as their first choice.</p>
<p>April 27, 2011: NMSC will begin mailing college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offers.</p>
<p>NOTE: If NMSC receives notification of a change in college choice from a Finalist after
mailing a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offer to that student, the Finalist cannot be
offered another college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award. This applies even if the new
choice of college is one that also sponsors Merit Scholarship awards. Therefore, a Finalist
who has previously reported a sponsor college as first choice but is uncertain about it may choose to notify NMSC that he/she is now “undecided”; such notification must be received at NMSC, via mail or by fax to (847) 866-5113, before April 27. The Finalist can subsequently report a firm college choice that NMSC receives by May 31.</p>
<p>May 31, 2011: Deadline date for NMSC to receive reports of a sponsor college as first choice. Because it is necessary to end the competition in a timely manner, only college choice reports that NMSC receives by May 31 will be used to identify the final group of candidates to a college or university that sponsors awards*</p>
<p>Yes that is clear-as long as you don’t get an offer you are fine.</p>
<p>It does seem more confusing than that but it really is simple.</p>
<p>Auuuuugh! My kiddo is accepted academically at several schools that offer NM funds (they are guaranteed if she makes one of them first choice by the late April date). BUT…she needs to be artisically admitted into the musical theatre major before she would attend any of them…(she has an artistic and academic admit at a school that doesn’t offer anything with NM). Several of her schools will not notify before April…and no, with a 1-3% admit rate into the major (one of her schools will accept 4 students, another 6, out of 6000 who apply and pre-audition…) it’s nothing to call the schools and check about… </p>
<p>So I guess the concern is that she might actually get one of the one-time $2500 awards from NMSQ…as her schools would offer much more…</p>
<p>mommafrog…call NMCorp with your situation. they want kids to get as much as they can, so they’ll work with you.</p>
<p>After rereading the NMSC wording, it appears to me that it is safe to designate a first choice school early that does not offer any National Merit award, then change it later (after 1st choice has been mailed) to a school that does. Is this true?</p>
<p>I think some of the confusion occurs because no one is really sure how NMSC’s consideration process for the scholarships works. Are finalists who have a first choice school designated prior to March 1st still considered for the one-time $2500 scholarships? Does it hurt their chances for receiving the $2500 scholarship if they have a first choice school designated? When does NMSC actually “decide” which scholarship they will offer to a finalist? They list the approximate mailing dates for the various types, but have they decided before then and does a change of first choice designee really affect anything? Who knows? In D1’s case it’s a fairly straightforward choice as she’s hoping to get a university sponsored award from her first choice school for $1K per year/4 years ($2K per year would be better but the definition of “financial need” varies greatly) as opposed to the $2500. But I understand the confusion and stress for finalists who have several schools they’re considering that have NMSC awards, or for finalists who are hoping specifically to get the $2500 award (maybe23…is that what you’re looking for by listing a first choice that doesn’t offer a NM award?). My head hurts now…</p>
<p>There is a lot of confusion and let me see if I can clear it up.</p>
<p>The corporate and NMSC awards are announced before the school awards. The Corporate awards are given first, the NMSC award next. That is a given. Also, you can get only one of those two, they are mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>The question that everyone is trying to ask is “If I (or my child) gets a Corporate/NMSC award, will he/she be automatically excluded from a college sponsored award, especially if the college sponsored award is higher?”</p>
<p>The answer to the question is not a simple yes or no. Let me try and simplify this.</p>
<p>Colleges give awards. Some just give say one time award of $2000, or others $1000 for 4 years etc. Some colleges give more to NMSC finalists (in some cases semi-finalists). Some colleges give tuition waiver, living expenses, summer reserach, laptops, ipods etc.</p>
<p>There is one very important thing to understand and I will give some examples: Let us say University of A gives a total National Merit Package of $39500 per year broken up as follows: $25,000 tuition, $10,000 for room and board, $1500 National Merit Scholarship, $3000 summer reserach. This is a very good package but it has two components: A National Merit Scholarship component of $1500 a year and Extra Goodies worth $38,000 a year. Repeat, NMSC is only concerned about $1500 a year which is the National Merit Component, they do not care about the $38,000. They will talk to you about $1500 not the rest.</p>
<p>(If I remember right NMSC awards range from $500 to $2500 with not more than $8000 over 4 years. So you could a one time award of maximum $2500 and a maximum of $2000 a year if you get it for 4 years etc.)</p>
<p>So if your child gets into of U of A and is NMF, he/she will get $38,000 a year, the goodies that have been promised.</p>
<p>Now what about the $1500 a year which is actual the National Merit Scholarship?</p>
<p>Ah, now we are getting to the real question. </p>
<p>Situation 1: A Student does not get a corporate or NMSC award. In this case the situation at U of A is clear, the student will get $1500 NMSC award from the college plus $38,000 in goodies for a total of $39500 a year.</p>
<p>Situation 2: A student gets the NMSC one time award of $2500. As per the rules, the student has to take the $2500 one time award and will forgo the $1500 a year. Unfair you may cry, the $1500 per year is $6000 over the 4 years. Some colleges will work with you to give you the difference i.e. $6000-$2500 over 4 years. Others may say “tough luck”.</p>
<p>Situation 3: Your employer gives a corporate award of $2000 a year. Now this is better than the $1500 a year that the school gives. In this case, your child gets $2000 +$38000 in goodies for a total of $40,000 a year.</p>
<p>Situation 4: Your child gets a corporate award of $500 a year. The college will give goodies worth $38000 plus the $500. Like in situation 2, colleges can make up the difference or not. Most colleges will make up the difference. </p>
<p>I know my explanation is a little simplistic and there may be some mistakes, but you have to remember that a school package can have a NMSC and non NMSC component. Keep that in mind before you make any decisions. Colleges will work with you to get the best award. Call your college if you have questions.</p>
<p>Situation 2.</p>
<p>Good answer…</p>
<p>To sum it up…you can get a corporate NMF scholarship and still get the large “unofficial NMF” portion of a college scholarship.</p>
<p>My son has both…a corporate NMF scholarship $2500 per year…and the big Bama NMF scholarship (minus $1k per year that was the "official NMF portion). So, he gave up $1k per year to get $2500 per year.</p>
<p>^^^ That is similar to situation 3 in my example. </p>
<p>Also M2CK if you son gets $2500 a year, then they must have increased the maximum to $10,000 over 4 years from $8000</p>
<p>The corporate scholarship award can be any where between $500 to $5,000 range. The monetary limit of scholarship is set by each corporate itself. It is NOT set by NMSC. NMSC is only the middle man to handle the money. So it all depends on your company package. Some gives $500 scholarship or $1000 scholarship… etc.</p>
<p>Last year, our son got NMSC corporate scholarship $5000/year for 4 years ($20,000) from our corporation.</p>
<p>I stand corrected on corporate scholarships</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/annual_report.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/annual_report.pdf</a>
Here is the official policy</p>
<p>*Corporate-sponsored scholarships
These scholarships are either four-year renewable awards that provide stipends ranging from $500 to $10,000 per year or single-payment awards of $2,500 to $5,000. They consist of two types:</p>
<p>Merit Scholarship® awards
Most corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards are offered to Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who are children of the grantor organization’s employees or members. Some awards are designated for Finalists who reside in communities specified by the sponsor, and a few are provided for Finalists who are planning college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage. Only Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who meet a sponsor’s criteria are considered for that sponsor’s National Merit Scholarships.</p>
<p>Special Scholarship awards
Approximately two-thirds of the corporations, company foundations, and business organizations that fund Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program also provide funding for Special Scholarship awards. The number of Finalists varies from year to year, but many sponsor organizations want to provide a fixed number of awards in each competition. These sponsors utilize nmsc’s services to supplement their Merit Scholarship awards with Special Scholarship awards for high-performing program participants who are not Finalists. Corporate scholarships are usually named for the grantor organization; however, the “National Merit” designation is not included in the Special Scholarship name. To be considered for a Special Scholarship, students must meet the sponsor’s specific criteria in addition to the participation requirements of the National Merit Scholarship Program. They also must submit an Entry Form to the sponsor organization.*</p>
<p>So even if you do not get a NMF, you might still get a special scholarship if you work for some companies.</p>
<p>College sponsored scholarships</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/annual_report.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/annual_report.pdf</a></p>
<p>College-sponsored Merit
Scholarship® awards
Only National Merit Program Finalists who notify NMSC of plans to attend a sponsoring college and are admitted to the institution are considered for the awards financed by the institution. College-sponsored scholarships, which can only be used at the college or
university financing the award, are renewable annually and provide stipends ranging from $500 to $2,000 per year. In the 2010 National Merit Program, 4,782 college sponsored
awards, worth $23.6 million, were funded by 197 U.S. colleges and universities, which are listed on pages 29–34.</p>
<p>@Wolverine - I was actually talking about the idea of telling a school (with need based aid only) that they are my top school by listing them with NMSC. Since they do not offer any award, would I still be able to (after top choice has been mailed) change to a school like U of A? I’m not really considering this (especially since the first batch of 1st choices are mailed around now), but I’m just curious.</p>
<p>My daughter is a National Achievement Finalist. Yesterday, she rec’d notification of a NMSC one-time $2500 scholarship which will be paid to her 1st choice school. This is a NMSC scholarship- not corporate-sponsored or college-sponsored.</p>
<p>The school that was listed as her 1st choice is no longer her 1st choice. I spoke with NMSC and they confirmed that this type of scholarship is fully transferrable to any school that she decides to attend as long as we notify NMSC. Per NMSC, we are permitted to change it because there is a chance that she won’t be accepted to her 1st choice college, and even if accepted, she might not attend. Multiple changes are permitted.</p>
<p>@mazewanderer - Can you clarify something for me? When you say:</p>
<p>“The Corporate awards are given first, the NMSC award next.”</p>
<p>Do you mean that the corporate awards are announced before the NMSC awards - or - do you mean that within their internal process, they allocate corporate first and then NMSC, where if you get a corporate award you cannot get an NMSC one?</p>
<p>I ask this because I have heard of people being notified of NMSC already (mommylaw’s daughter.) However, I have not heard announcements/posts of any corporate awards.</p>
<ul>
<li>Correction, I see that mom2collegekids has received a corporate award. So, it seems that corporate awards have been announced. Are corporate awards announced by the corporation or NMSC?</li>
</ul>