<p>I am a national merit finalist, but the half tuition national merit scholarship is not listed in my financial aid letter. is it guaranteed and should i be expecting a separate letter?</p>
<p>^^Same here, so far I only have a $2000 University scholarship.</p>
<p>You should be receiving a letter in a week or two (by mid April) that asks you to accept the NMF Presidential scholarship and the 1K NM scholarship. Both are renewable for 4 years with sufficient academic progress (not hard). </p>
<p>Have you named USC your school choice with NM? If so, you are set. Wait a couple of weeks. If you have not received anything by mid April, call USC and ask them about the NM Pres. </p>
<p>Again,D’s letter and scholarships showed up after the first week of April. She had already named USC as her school choice.</p>
<p>Thank you for your help!!</p>
<p>You are welcome, and congratulations.</p>
<p>Jeez, it would’ve been nice to get into USC. The National Merit Finalist award would probably have knocked enough money off for me to go.</p>
<p>I have just received notification that I am a National Merit Scholar from NMSC ($2500 award). I’ve looked through the relevant USC threads on CC and I’m a little confused about how to proceed. Last year, some people said you could choose between the $2500 NMSC award and the $1000/year for 4 years award from USC, while others said you could only choose the $2500. I have not accepted/declined the $2500 offer from NMSC yet. Today I called NMSC and they told me to talk to USC Financial Aid, which was too busy (I have called multiple times). I’d really appreciate it if someone could advise me on this issue!</p>
<p>I won’t be able to pick a first choice NM college until I see my FA package from USC. If I can’t afford to go, I’ll be going to UCF which offers a full ride for NMF. UCF already sent a scholarship “acceptance” letter even though I haven’t named them through NMSC. Will I be able to see what my USC FA package would like with the hypothetical NMF Presidential Award before actually choosing a first choice college?</p>
<p>@Athena, yes this was a problem for students last year (it wasn’t the year before during D’s admit cycle). Students reported that they were stuck with the $2500 one-time NMS award instead of the USC NMS 1k for 4 years. Keep trying to get in touch with USC during the next few weeks (you have some time until 5/1). If you are in the area, even better, drop in. If you are coming for an admitted student event, there will be financial aid reps there to help.</p>
<p>@eesachs-- not sure if you have to name USC before it shows up in your package. D already had named USC before April. You definitely need that in your whole package to make a decision. Try and contact financial aid in the next couple of weeks (this will take some patience on your part to get through). Hopefully other posters who didn’t name USC early will have more info for you.</p>
<p>Each school such as Viterbi and Marshall has an office of admissions. If you cannot get through to the university admission’s office try the office for your senior’s major. The numbers are on SC brochures and can be accessed on the internet.</p>
<p>Here are some I found in a short search:</p>
<p>Annenberg Admissions----213 821 0770</p>
<p>Dornsife Admissions----213 740 5930</p>
<p>Thornton Admissions----800 872 2213</p>
<p>Marshall Admissions----800 352 5719</p>
<p>Viterbi Admissions----800 526 3347</p>
<p>Do Trustee Scholars receive the $1000 per year extra for National Merit Finalist?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for this thread! I was wondering as well. The national merit award money will be GREATLY appreciated, along with my financial aid package, to help make a dent in that 60K cost. Haha. So will the award end up at about 22K or 23K?</p>
<p>P.S. I named USC as my first-choice school a long time before receiving my financial aid package, and my package still does not reflect the half-tuition merit award. So I don’t think when you named them your first-choice had much significance. If that makes sense! At least for me.</p>
<p>lexi,</p>
<pre><code>The financial aid package you see is not complete until that is stated in writing to you. The NMScholarship for admitted students is automatic if you notified, as you did. As posted above it may take a few days for everything to be included. You will have plenty of time to consider all offers before May 1.
</code></pre>
<p>@Lexi- as stated in post #3, NMF will receive a letter in the mail detailing their NMPres and NMS scholarships and asking them to accept it in writing. It comes after acceptances and will reach you before mid April, in plenty of time.</p>
<p>also does anyone know if you have to maintain a certain gpa to keep receiving it?</p>
<p>It is not too late to check out local scholarships on the internet. Students with grades and scores for SC should have a good chance to qualify for a scholarship. These are given by civic, religious, fraternal, corporate, ethnic and patriotic organizations.</p>