<p>It’s not too late for Arizona and Arizona State - their deadlines are in May.</p>
<p>Thank you for the answer - we’ve been wondering the same with DS for Bama and Oklahoma (no interest in ASU) since he was named a NMF. Great to have this opportunity for a ‘back up’ free education!</p>
<p>McMomma…your son can still apply to OU. Has he visited yet? If not, I highly recommend a visit. Our visit totally changed our perspective.</p>
<p>Slight typo in the letter I was skimming on the way to the recycle bin! From UT Dallas … and $44,000 cash stipend per semester. Wow! Can I cash in on that - tell them I have it in writing??? Big oops there!</p>
<p>That is a big oops. You might want to dig it out of the recyle bin and save it for possible future use. :)</p>
<p>It also says “Yes, the offer is real. And no, it’s not too late.” :)</p>
<p>Yeah I noticed that one too. 
Especially embarrassing since they emphasized so many times the offer was “real.”</p>
<p>I was like “But…but that can’t be right…”</p>
<p>I would love to be paid an entire middle class salary just to go to a college.</p>
<p>as far as i know it is not too late for the full ride at UAB 4years of tuition, housing and 2500 stipend for nmf, national acheivement and national hispanic scholars</p>
<p>NOT: the tuition is for 15 credits per semester. uab requires 120 credits to graduate so the required tuition is covered…if you choose to take more credits per semester that would mean a per credit cost on any ABOVE 15. however uab is extremely generous with ap and clep credit…so may not be necessary</p>
<p>dorms are suite or full apartment style </p>
<p>from website: <a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found;
<p>UAB is a destination for academically talented students, and we love to reward your hard work. We recognize National Merit Finalists, National Achievement Finalists, and National Hispanic Scholars with the following scholarship, which is renewable for four years. The details:</p>
<p>Full tuition, required fees, and housing (up to 15 credit hours per semester) for a total of eight semesters (fall and spring)
A one-time $2,500 stipend to be used for experiential learning (Study Away, internships, co-ops, etc.)
Students receiving UAB merit-based scholarships are required to live on campus for their first year of enrollment. (Which is a very good place to live. Check out our swank, conveniently located residence halls.) For more information, review the Freshman Scholarship Residency Policy. </p>
<p>Once you’ve been admitted to UAB, simply do the following to claim your scholarship:
National Merit Finalists: Name UAB your first choice with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation; the paperwork for this should be included with your finalist letter. They’ll then send us your name, and we will award your scholarship. Yes, it’s really that easy.</p>
<p>National Achievement Finalists and National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars: Fax or mail us a copy of your Finalist letter and/or your Finalist certificate, and we’ll award your scholarship:
Coordinator of Undergraduate Scholarships
HUC 317
1530 3rd Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35294
(205) 934-8941</p>
<p>Interesting about OU - we’ve received that information but DS has dismissed it. Maybe we’ll plan a visit down there over spring break.</p>
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<p>Busymomma, you really should go for a visit if you can work it out. OU has a National Scholars office that will set up a highly customized visit. They’ll put you up overnight, as well. </p>
<p>Even though we are from OK, OU was never on my son’s radar until we visited. They scholarship is excellent, and the intangibles they offer NMS are outstanding. The dean of the honors college has degrees from Yale and Stanford and has done an excellent job of creating the feel of a small liberal arts college on the larger university campus. My son felt like he would get the best of both worlds at OU. Oh, and the food is amazing, LOL. </p>
<p>We have visited twice and every NMS we spoke with seemed very happy there. I have talked to a couple of parents locally whose kids are NMS and are attending OU. They tell me that their kids are having great experiences and that OU follows through on all the promises they make during the visit. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any questions.</p>
<p>Wow, sounds like we definitely need to travel down. Do they out a rush or priority on their applications, since he hasn’t applied yet? Also, do you know if they have a different app for NMF? Sorry for all the questions! :)</p>
<p>Sent from my SGH-T769 using CC</p>
<p>Please, ask all the questions you want. :-)</p>
<p>For National Merit Finalists, they will push your application through pretty quickly. After your child applies, you contact the NM office and tell them the application has been submitted and they’ll make sure it gets processed quickly. After that, he can submit an application to the honor’s college, which is processed quickly, as well. There is no special app for NMF. </p>
<p>Here is a link the NM Scholars website where you can find details on the scholarship. Let me know if you have any specific questions about it. </p>
<p>[National</a> Merit](<a href=“Honors & National Merit”>http://www.ou.edu/go2/nationalmerit.html)</p>
<p>From the website, you can contact the staff and get the process started of setting up a visit. They are very professional and truly want to make sure your child has the best visit possible. The first time we visited, we were on campus from 8:30-5 and met with someone from every department and organization my son was interested in and he sat in on a class. They have current National Merit Scholars escort you from one appointment to the next, which is nice because you can ask them about their experience, why they chose OU, etc. </p>
<p>The five year tuition waiver is such a great deal, as your son can use it for summer classes and online classes. My son is starting with a few AP credits and plans to do summer school a couple of summers, and this will allow him to get two undergraduate degrees and a year of grad school tuition-free. </p>
<p>Be aware that this is not a full ride. OU’s fees are not covered under the tuition waiver and they are high. Still, it’s a great deal for such a good education. </p>
<p>BTW, our initial contact in the NM Office was LeAnn Burns. She is the director and is fantastic. After our first visit, we worked with Tyler, who is also great to work with. Also, you will want to meet with Dr. Schaeffer in the honor’s college. She will make you wish you could go to OU. :-)</p>
<p>As a senior National Merit kid going to OU next year, I second everything Soonermom said. I’m not going to clutter this thread up too much, but if you want to read some opinions of NMFs going to OU next year, you can check out this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-oklahoma/1458510-hello-anyone-here.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-oklahoma/1458510-hello-anyone-here.html</a></p>
<p>I’m available to answer any questions too!</p>
<p>Just wanted to mention that the tuition waiver is not a full waiver for out of state students. The description on their web page is not as clear as it could be. Tuition is calculated as in-state tuition + out-of-state tuition = total tuition. The NM scholarship waives the out-of-state tuition. Then it covers $2,000 per year of the in-state tuition. The rest of the in-state tuition can be paid with the additional NM scholarship funds. Its important to know that the in-state and out-of-state NM funds DO NOT cover the entire cost of tuition. </p>
<p>When I ran the numbers, the COA against the NM scholarships left a residual COA of $8,677 per year. Its a great deal, but not as great as I thought when I read the program the first time.</p>
<p>The OU cost of attendance lists tuition for 30 credit hours – you have to pay more if you take more hours. I’m guessing an engineering program requires more than 15 credits many semesters, so if money is very tight, consider that as well. I’m not sure if the NM package would cover the non-resident portion of the extra tuition and fees for additional credit hours. Additional undergraduate credits are $670/hour OOS. Still looks like an incredible deal.</p>
<p>Both of you are correct. From what I understand though, it’s a flat 120 credit hours of waivers, so if coming in with some AP credits it seems possible to stay under 120, even as an engineering major.</p>
<p>I have taken the great work of Bob Wallace and created a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel of all the colleges that give scholarships to National Merit Finalists/Semi-Finalists. You can find and download this spreadsheet at <a href=“https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8UG36FV2i-MV0xxc2JEcGFobG8/edit?usp=sharing[/url]”>https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8UG36FV2i-MV0xxc2JEcGFobG8/edit?usp=sharing</a></p>
<p>I made some slight changes to the information (re-ordering the names of the schools, abbreviating a few of the notes, and adding the state to the end of the name of the school if not obvious), but it’s all the great information BobWallace has compiled for us. Thanks, BobWallace!</p>
<p>Thank you ILfather & Bob Wallace</p>
<p>Wow, ILfather, thanks for doing this! And thanks to BobW, too.</p>