<p>@PoppaSmurf - S1applied at Auburn. Toured 'Bama, Auburn and Miss State just before school started this year. I really liked Alabama’s NMF package. Unless Auburn comes up with more money, I think he will still end up at OU. UT and A&M are in the running as well, better academic programs, but less money.</p>
<p>@Torveaux - going off topic a bit, but have you gotten a firm grip on OU’s residual costs after the NMF package? We looked at it a bit but found some info that made it sound like the OOS package left quite a bit out. Just curious. </p>
<p>It’s Feb 8th and the mail was delivered. No mail from NM organization yet! The waiting is killing us! I guess we have to wait for Monday’s mail. Has anyone gotten acceptance letter yet? Seems that NMF acknowledgements so far were all verified by phone. </p>
<p>I’m a homeschooler in Arkansas, and the January 30 letter with certificate to the ‘principal’ just arrived in the mail today— Finalist here.</p>
<p>NMF letter came in the mail today. We are in a Western suburb of Chicago.</p>
<p>@Torveaux thank you - and congrats to you as well - We actually don’t live in SD anymore (we’re actually originally from Canada…we’re in TX now 
(I guess this is where all the cool kids migrate to!:)) ) DD wanted to go to UTD and my husband had a chance to relocate his job here so we moved this past summer.</p>
<p>@papasmurf - I am a bit of a data nerd, so before we knew anything about any of this stuff, we started an excel sheet to assemble some data points on any school in which S1 was remotely interested. Ended up with something like 200 schools. Once it became clear he was going to be in the NM discussion it narrowed the field. His major interests were fairly narrow, so we excluded quite a few due to lack of the major or very weak program in the major…all of that being said…we had Oklahoma costing him something like 9500 over 4 years. But that was before the added money. That gets a little tricky since they apparently had an increase in tuition (shocker, right). We got another letter from OU’s program today. It covers 106200 over 4+ years. Since they accept AP credits more readily than some more elite schools, he will be able to use the scholarship for grad classes or whatever. They can even use it on off campus housing after freshman year. The scholarship money can also be used to pay the tuition or fees for international programs (semester abroad). That is in addition to the 2K they give you specifically for the overseas thing. The NM money is completely stack-able. If you get other scholarships, big, little or small they will not reduce the NM money. It can just carry over into grad school. Since we are only about 3 hours from Norman, there are a few minor advantages for us versus some other schools just in terms of cost of travel. He is also a very focused, often boring kid. He is also even more cost-averse than are we. I expect he will not spend nearly as much as we estimated. Part of those costs are ‘incidentals’ and such that are very dependent upon the student and the life circumstances. Sorry for the overly wordy post. Like I said, we literally got the info a few hours ago. Still no NMF letter…but everyone seems to be encouraging that it is a done deal. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Still no letter in Oklahoma.</p>
<p>@torveaux- no nmf letter for us yet either (western oh). We did get the “to the parents of” letter from ou about the scholarship package though. I will have to look into the AP thing. I did a quick check and the ou deadline for admission app is April 1, so we can still sneak one if if S is interested. Cost is a big factor for us and S “gets it”. Thanks a bunch for the informative response. </p>
<p>Torveaux and PoppaSmurf…Our D2 is a junior this year, but will more than likely be in the NM process next year and is looking closely at OU as well. Based on the research we’ve done, our numbers crunch out pretty much the same as what Torveaux shows. I also like that the scholarship is designed to increase if tuition costs increase over the course of their 4 years. </p>
<p>The flat-rate tuition plan that OU put into effect this year can really make a difference in costs between universities, and it’s also important to look at how a school structures it’s fees. OU’s tuition rate includes mandatory fees but not “course and college specific” fees which will probably run several hundred dollars per year (we figured $1000 in our cost estimate). If you look at OK State, they also have a very generous NM scholarship, part of which is designed to cover “tuition”, but their fee structure can add upwards of $4K per year to the billed costs depending upon which college your child’s courses fall under. It can certainly be confusing, and we’re going to get further clarification when we visit both schools in April.</p>
<p>Is it bad if I still haven’t gotten a letter? :/</p>
<p>I think many people are still waiting on letters. S1 has heard nothing from school (counselor not very on top of things) so we are hoping for a letter this week.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all who have received good news! We are still waiting for the finalist letter in Oklahoma. I called one day last week and was told that they could not tell release information. Reading these posts, I’ll probably call tomorrow and hope I speak to a different person. How do they notify about the NMSC $2500 scholarship? Does that information come with the finalist letter or later?</p>
<p>@ohmmom not every nmf gets the nmsc scholarship. However some schools offer big money to nmf’s.</p>
<p>Thanks, PoppaSmurf. I think I worded my question unclearly. I realize only a small number of kids will get the $2500 from NMSC so my question is how/when does NMSC notify about that. My D has been accepted at OU and their scholarship for NMF looks good. </p>
<p>No letter here in Ohio, but I called on Thursday and they confirmed finalist status. We felt like chumps for agonizing and not calling earlier. Is there any legitimate reason why NMC couldn’t simultaneously update everyone’s semifinalist portal online with either a rejection or notice that they are a finalist? There has to be an easier way than waiting everyday for the mail like animals. If colleges can do it, seems like they could get with the times and save all that postage too. </p>
<p>ohmmom: Notification of $2500 scholarships will be mailed to winners on March 27. Below is a link to the document with all the dates. See page 4.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thank you, STEMFamily!</p>
<p>No letter today in PA. Anyone else?</p>
<p>@madgie, none for us in PA till now either, but then our Monday mail has not been delivered yet. Called NMSC and confirmed S’s finalist status.</p>