As none of the top schools give merit scholarships, unless your parent works for a participating employer, your only shot is to qualify for direct scholarship from foundation which can be used at at any college. However, as only 2,500 students among 3 million or so high schoolers are awarded this scholarship, it looks like a very long shot, even lower odds than getting into Harvard or Stanford. How can a student improve his odds of qualifying?
@Riversider write an amazing essay!
Agree on essay. Your confirming SAT (or now ACT) needs to be top end, not just good enough to confirm your PSAT score. ECs will be very important too. Basically the whole package. Your intuition about how competitive it is is spot on I think. You have to stand out in a group of 99th percentile students. It is a long shot. Personally, I think given that it is only $2,500 a year, there are other outside scholarships students can apply for that have better odds. The financial benefits for being NMF flow to the kids who are going to various schools who give the big NMF awards (from the school not from NMSC).
Most outside scholarships favor underprivileged, minority or STEM, once you start reading fine print, very few small ones are left .
D17 was NMS and won the $2,500. She has 1500 PSAT and 1550 SAT (one take). She used her common app essay. We are in PA public HS with 6 NMF that year and she was the only winner. The guidance counselor made it sound like her PSAT had the most to do with her winning, but one parent told me her D has the same PSAT.
She was however rejected from various local, PTA, etc scholarships. She currently attends Vandy who provides additional scholarship through NM…$2k a year in her case with full tuition merit scholarship.
I think the stat is 2500 out of graduating class of 1.6 million students nationwide, not 3 million.
Here’s the best thing since sliced bread: https://www.possefoundation.org/
And the scholarship pales in comparison to everything Posse has to offer. The fine print is that in addition to having leadership skills you have to live in one of the ten Posse cities and be nominated by your school, organization or a Posse Scholar. There’s a big thread on CC. Search for it.
@Riversider this is anecdotal but in our area there are a fair number of local businesses and organizations that offer small scholarships. Local bank, rotary club, insurance agency, women’s group, etc. Generally ranging from $500 to $1,500. Many don’t get a lot of applications because of the essay requirement, senoritis, or just lack of awareness. Your competition for these is your own HS versus the top 1% PSAT scorers nationwide.
DS18 picked up a $2,850 NHS scholarship and a $1k scholarship from a local bank. Since he already had all direct costs covered (he has a full ride), the money from both of these plus his college sponsored NMF money ($500 a year) was refunded to him and he is banking for grad school.
Many thanks to all of you. @3scoutsmom @LOUKYDAD @SincererLove @PossePops
In case my student won’t get much luck, are there any scholarships available to existing students in colleges? We can explore those after college admission and high school graduation.
“ About 3.6 million students are expected to graduate from high school in 2018–19, including 3.3 million students from public high schools and 0.4 million students from private high schools (source).”
Only 2,500 out of 3.6 million is a very exclusive club and certainly more difficult to get in than getting into any college here or internationally.
@SincererLove is correct about the 1.6 number just as you, @Riversider, are. Your number is graduating seniors. The 1.6 million is the number NMSC says are the “entrants” to the NM competition. I assume that must be the number who take the PSAT who they (NMSC) deem eligible based on the bubbled answers to certain questions. I wonder if that means half the graduating seniors took the PSAT their junior year?
Colleges usually have internal scholarships for upperclassmen - most given out by academic department. There are others given out to college students by private organizations (like the fraternal benefit group First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association (FCSLA) who gives out one-time $1250 awards to some college members who apply), but there aren’t as many of those, IMO. Like @LOUKYDAD explained, there are small awards given out to high school seniors by banks, insurance groups, veteran organizations, and even hobby groups (like an antique car club).
Remember it’s only a one time scholarship and this is not the only one out there. So while it’s great to receive it (plus Scholar status), there are other sources of additional money or scholarships that may be applied yearly. Many schools offer NM Finalists $$ whether then achieve Scholar status or not.
Its a rare honor and most top 20 don’t give any merit $ so every dollar counts for those who are not getting financial aid and want to attend a dream school.
However, if there is no aid or family support then you can always cash your status at colleges who offer free rides to NMS. Many colleges actually offer free rides to semi finalists and finalists as well.
National Merit Scholarship is certainly better than US Presidential Scholarip where you get no money at all.
@Riversider The schools that give full rides to NM kids (examples - Alabama, Kentucky, UT Dallas, Ole Miss, Central Florida, etc.) don’t make any real distinction between the 2,500 kids who get the $2,500 award from NMSC and the rest (approx. 12,500) of the NMFs. If you don’t get the $2,500 award and attend their school, you are going to get a college sponsored award that is funded by the school (at least $500 up to $2k per year for 4 years). NMSC becomes a conduit in this case. And whether you do or don’t get the $2,500 award, you are still technically a NMS if you receive any one of the three types of scholarships ($2,500 award, corporate award, or college sponsored award).
Maybe there is an exception, but I’m not aware of any school that distinguishes between the 2500 and the remaining 12,500 in terms of their merit awards (merit provided by the school, not NMSC). Most distinguish between NMSFs who don’t progress to NMF. But once you are a NMF that is really all that matters.
Personal example - my DS18 at Louisville is getting a $500 a year college sponsored award, total of $2,000 over 4 years. What would the difference have been if he had been fortunate enough to win one of the $2,500 awards? Net $500.
I get that if you are planning to attend an ivy or another school that doesn’t offer merit based aid for NMF the $2,500 is a nice thing to pick up. Then again it is kind of a drop in a bucket if you are full pay.
No question that it is an honor to be in the group that gets the $2,500 award. This isn’t meant to subtract from that. I’m just saying that in the search for merit $, there just isn’t the pot at the end of the rainbow unless you are attending one of the full ride schools. And if you are attending one of the full ride schools, it isn’t financially impactful whether or not you receive the $2,500, at least in my experience.
@LOUKYDAD you mentioned something that I have been so curious about. My daughter is likely going to go to UCF with their full ride for National Merit. I cannot seem to get a clear answer about whether or not she could still apply to some local scholarships and still receive benefit from them? We don’t want to be greedy but I like what you mentioned and wondering if that is how it worked in your case? I tried to ask UCF but was confused by the answer and it sounded as if any outside scholarship would be taken by the school and that would replace some of what they are paying towards the full ride (instead of money being refunded to student) – but I am not sure if I was understanding it correctly? I would rather it be the way you described as travel expenses will be large …
@FrozenMaineMom Luke @ UCF explained it like you understand it. UCF will reduce their award by however much outside scholarships the student gets. (I’m assuming they will say there is a federal aid rule that requires this.)
Each college handles these things differently. I’m assuming you could try to bypass the system by having the scholarship checks sent to you. Some scholarships don’t support that, though. Also, many schools require you to report your outside scholarships.
@FrozenMaineMom I was really confused myself how all of this was going to shake out for DS18. Here is how I think it works (verify - I am not an expert, just sharing based on how it worked for DS).
As long as there is no federal need based aid involved, I think it will come down to each school’s over award and stacking policy. If you are getting federal aid, once the cost of attendance has been covered any additional outside scholarship you get requires a corresponding reduction in need based aid I believe. Strict federal rules apply in this situation. But if there is no federal aid involved, as I understand the school can do what it wants. They can reduce institutional merit aid when you receive outside scholarships, but they aren’t required to do so. Louisville does not, so if you receive outside scholarships they can stack, and if they exceed direct billed charges (tuition, room and meal plan) they refund the over award to the student.
I had a conversation in the financial aid office at Louisville last year, and this is the understanding I walked away with.
We were required to report the outside scholarships to the financial aid office, which we did. All the funds were sent directly to Louisville. The only checks issued to us were from Louisville.
The numbers shook out like this for us for the first semester. Tuition, room and board billed by Louisville was about $11k. U of L’s merit award as a Brown Fellow was also about $11k. Outside scholarships total $6.8k in year 1 ($2.8k NHS, $2.5 KEES which is state lottery funded, $1k local bank, and $500 NMSC college sponsored). They split the $6.8k between semester 1 and semester 2, so DS got a refund at the beginning of semester 1 of $3.4k and then another $3.4k at the beginning of semester 2. He is using the cash to pay for books and any other personal expenses, and rest is going into a fund for grad school.
The NHS and local bank outside scholarships were just a one shot deal. Also he is moving out of the dorms and into affiliated housing next year, which is going to cost more. So I’m not expecting there to be as much left over in years 2-4.
Haven’t completely sorted out the tax consequences yet for DS, but at looks like no federal tax for 2018 because the excess of the merit aid over qualified expenses (tuition and books only) will be offset by the standard deduction. Might owe some state tax.
A lot of schools reduce your scholarship or aid due to outside scholarships. I heard that on GT. GT Stamps is a full ride, and if you get additional scholarship, GT will give you less accordingly. It does seem to me the same case in UCF, from what you wrote @FrozenMaineMom
I have a friend whose son won $20k scholarship each year, but their Columbia’s FA was $20k and that $20k was sent to the school. Therefore the impact of the scholarship is that Columbia didn’t need to provide FA to him. Their family still need to pay $55k a year. He would have sit out and have some other kids win that instead.
As @Reebtoor said, a lot of scholarships especially with higher dollar amounts are going to school directly. D had one $500 scholarship was paid directly to her, but all others, including Carson and NMS are all going directly to the school.
@Reebtoor and @FrozenMaineMom - Financial aid is very tough to generalize. As noted, each school applies money differently. My advice, make sure you are completely clear about the school’s offer when received and what would impact that. One DS is at Notre Dame. They made clear that any outside scholarships would first go to reducing the student’s out-of-pocket. This is rare. But, illustrates the reason for my advice. Many schools offer a “National Merit Scholarship”, not to be confused with the NMSC school-based scholarship. As an example, DS at Arizona State is a NMS. The NMSC portion of the scholarship is $500/semester. The remainder is ASU’s “New American National Merit Scholarship” that is 100% of tuition, minus the $500/semester. Also, the New American is guaranteed to meet 100% tuition, even when tuition increases. It gets confusing. Always worth a call if you have been accepted. Most AOs want to get you to their school (yield), so they are happy to answer your questions.
@FrozenMaineMom I know exactly what you mean about feeling greedy when applying for the outside scholarships when you have what most would say is a “full ride”. In reality, DS did back off on applying for some of the local scholarships he could have went for. This was partially application fatigue and just wanting to be done with it, but there was also the feeling that the money should probably go to someone else.
On the other hand, DS seems to be heading toward med school which is really expensive. Think $250k over the course of four years or more. You can’t work a job while you go to med school, and chances of getting aid for med school are pretty slim to none. It is usually all loans. I plan to help him at some level but I gulp at the thought of trying to knock out all of that. He may have to borrow a decent chunk of it. I would prefer to minimize it so he has more freedom to pursue whatever focus or specialty he feels called to, and not think about having to pay back huge loans. So there is my justification :).
@LOUKYDAD thank you for wording that so well – that is exactly the situation we would be in as well so I totally understand what you are saying. Also, our kids have worked crazy hard to be in the positions they are in so although I do not want to take any money away from anyone else who could need it, there is something to be said for our kids still be able to compete as they would have for some of the smaller ones (only if it makes sense to do so and it will not just be absorbed by the college) as they would have were they not choosing to attend the full ride school.