Request clarifications on National Merit Scholarships - long list!

Paying for College
1

Hello CC: I have a few questions on how NMS program works, and would appreciate any clarifications.

  1. A NMS Finalist will be considered for one of 3 types of scholarships - NMS, corporate, and college-sponsored. I believe the finalist will be considered for a college-sponsored award only if s/he lists that as a top choice. If s/he does not list a college as a top choice, then only 2 types of scholarships (NMS, and maybe coroporate) are available. Is this correct? Also, since only 1 top college choice can be listed, the student has a chance to get this type of award from only 1 college? What if s/he has applied to 3-4 such colleges, the other colleges will not consider the student for this award??
  2. Not all colleges sponsor NMS awards. So, if the student selects, say college X as the top choice (college X is a sponsor college), and gets admission+award from college X, is this college binding on the student? What if the student gets admission from College Y, and Y is also a sponsor college, can the student accept admission from College Y instead? Ofcourse, the award from college X will be forfeited. In this scenario, the FAQ on NMS site (see below) says that College Y will not offer any merit scholarship to the student! How do they know to offer or not to offer??
  3. In above, if College Y is NOT a NMS sponsor college, can the student forfeit an award from college X and accept Y? Let's assume Y gives merit scholarships (e.g. U. of California gives Regents Scholarships which are merit based, and also are NOT sponsors of NMS).

The FAQs on NMS site (http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf) say the following:
“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 award.”

The last sentence above is confusing. It seems to indicate that it may also apply to colleges that DO NOT sponsor NMS!! i.e, what if the new choice of college is one that DOES NOT sponsor Merit scholarship (like U. of California in #3 above)?? Why should U. of California care about NMS as it is not a sponsor? Will it now rescind regents offer? (dont think so, but…)

  1. If a student gives College X as a first choice, and then is given a NMS or a corporate scholarship, the I think somehow the college is notified and it will not consider the student for any of its awards. There is some coordination between the three award committees which consider finalists independent of each other...?!?
  2. Can a college award a "NMS" award, and "OTHER" types of merit awards?? Or , all college merit awards considered as NMS awards?? I am not sure I am even making sense here! :-)

Well, a lot of questions. I have read thru all the info on NMS site, and also thru a number of CC threads, but dont seem to have got any clarification on above. So any help will be great!

Thank you, from a confused parent of a NMS finalist!

2

@ruar12, if your top choice awards NM scholarships, then you will list that as your first choice and you will get their NM scholarship. If you applied to several schools that offer NM scholarships, you have to decide which one you want to attend and list it or you will not be offered a NM scholarship from that school. You have time to make up your mind.

It is confusing, but many of us parents on CC have been through it multiple times. So ask away!

There are 3 ways to get OFFICIAL NM scholarships. As you said, you may get one from the National Merit Scholarship Corp., a corporate sponsor, or a university. That scholarship, regardless of source, is about $2500. On top of that, regardless of the source, you may be eligible for additional money from a college just because you are a National Merit Finalist. That money is not an “official” or “sponsored” national merit scholarship, but that’s just semantics because it is only offered to NM Finalists. For example, Texas A&M offers like $46,000 to NMFs. Of that, $2500 is the official NM scholarship. If you are offered the official scholarship from the NMSC or a corporation, A&M will reduce your package by that amount because you can only get that official NM scholarship from one source.

Here are some scenarios that may help.

Scenario #1. College A offers a nice scholarship package for Finalists. College A is your first choice school. You do not receive the official scholarship from NMSC. You notify NMSC that College A is your first choice. NMSC notifies College A that you have listed it as your first choice. You are then awarded the official college sponsored National Merit Scholarship from College A worth about $2500. Yay You. You are now a National Merit Scholar (which, by definition, just means you got an official NM scholarship from one of the 3 sources). You are also awarded the rest of College A’s package, which is not an “official national merit scholarship”, but is only available to finalists.

Scenario #2. You are one of the few who receive the official NMSC scholarship (probably means you have a perfect SAT score). You choose to attend a college that offers a nice package to Finalists. You notify NMSC that you will attend that college. They notify the college that it is your first choice. The college then offers you the package on top of the NMSC $2500 scholarship, but your package is decreased by whatever portion of the college’s package was the official scholarship. Probably about $2500. You end up just the same anyway. It’s just that the “official” part of your award comes from a different (NMSC) source, not the college.

Secnario #3. You get the official NMSC scholarship, but do not attend a school that gives any money to finalists (or they do but you miss the deadline to notify NMSC you want to attend that school). All you get is the $2500. That’s it. But, on the bright side, you can brag that you are a National Merit Scholar.

Scenario #4. You do not get the official NM scholarship from NMSC. You do not qualify for a corporate scholarship. And you do not get a college sponsored NM scholarship (either because you fail to notify NMSC of your first choice by the deadline or because you chose a college that does not offer a NM scholarship). Technically you are not a National Merit Scholar, you are just a finalist for ever more, but hardly anyone understands the distinction.

3

I missed some of your questions.

If you notify NMSC of your first choice, then decide to go to another school, you will not get another offer of NM scholarship money. But NMSC has no power to force you to attend or not attend any school. Telling NMSC your first choice is not binding on you to attend that school. But the deadline to notify NMSC is a long way off. Certainly by then you will have all your acceptances or rejections in hand and can make up your mind. If you are unsure, wait until the last minute to notify NMSC of your first choice school.

4

And……. don’t get confused between the official sponsored NMF awards from the NMSC, a corporation, or a college. Those are worth only about $2500 and it is that scholarship that you can only get offered 1 of. It is coordinated, NMSC chooses a couple thousand kids to get their scholarship. Most of them have perfect SAT scores. Of the kids who don’t get that award, they will get a corporate award if they have notified NMSC that they are eligible (that usually means the parent works at the sponsoring corp). Or they will get a college sponsored award if they notify NMSC by the deadline of their first choice school and it is a school that offers a NM scholarship. Regardless of which one a student gets, if he chooses a school that gives more, then they get the rest of the package on top of the small “official” scholarship.

As you have probably heard, only about half of Finalists become Scholars (get scholarships). But that is entirely by their own choice. The only kids who don’t become National Merit Scholars (don’t get the scholarships) are kids who don’t get the official scholarship from NMSC (that’s out of their control), and are not eligible for a corporate sponsored NM scholarship (that’s out of their control), and choose to go to a school that doesn’t offer a NM scholarship (this is the one the kid could control).

5

Thank you @barfly. Things are getting a bit clearer - I guess I am not the only confused parent here :slight_smile:

To make the points a bit clearer, 4 of the schools my D has applied to are - WUSTL, UChicago, Columbia and one of the UofCalifornia. Of these only WUSTL and UChicago are NMS sponsor colleges. D already has been offered a Regents award from the UCalifornia (I believe this is a college merit scholarship award).

The confusion comes here (!). Any of the above colleges are equally good for her, and so say she selects WUSTL as her top choice for NMS award.

Hypothetical scenarios:

  1. WUSTL will come into play only if she does not get a NMF award or the corporate award. Is this correct? Any admissions+award from WUSTL is non-binding?
  2. If say she gets into UChicago (parents are allowed to dream! :slight_smile: ), can she accept UChicago? I am not sure if UChicago offers any “other” type of merit awards.
  3. If she gets into Columbia (yep, dreaming big here), Columbia can offer merit awards(not sure if they have any)?
  4. I dont think there will be any implication of any of the above on UCalifornia’s offer of Regents.
  5. If she does not list any top choice college, then her only options are to hope to be offered a NMF or corporate(if she applies to one).
  6. Will not listing a choice have any negative impact on her admission chances? And vice-versa?

Thanks again! And hopefully other parents like myself will benefit from your experience and knowledge.

6

@barfly Also, in your scenario#1, if College A is already notified in March by NMSC that it is the top choice, then I guess it will take that into consideration in finalizing the package. Just making sure I understand this right.

7

The key to NM is to delay choosing your first choice college until acceptances come in. There is plenty of time.

8

Oklahoma sent out a nice brochure that reminds us there will be one and only one scholarship offer. They advise us to “accept” it. And listen to @TwoTravelin

9

Being the potential recipient of a college-sponsored NM scholarship does not mean your child cannot go to a college that does not provide NM scholarships. Nor should it have any effect on the aid awarded by those schools.

10

Also…read here for many answers to your possible NMF questions…

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1365011-faq-for-the-psat-sat-nmsf-nmf-process.html#latest

11

@mom2collegekids Thanks for the link. Lots of info there, and will go over it.
Thanks to others as well for their advice.

Some minor queries: “college sponsors of NM scholarships” and “college offers NM scholarships” mean the same? Unfortunately, the official site of NMSC uses these words rather loosely it seems.

In the FAQ I quoted above:
“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 (emphasis mine) if the new choice of college is one that ALSO(emphasis mine) sponsors Merit Scholarship award.”

Shouldnt this apply ONLY if the new choice is also one that sponsors/offers Merit Scholarship award? Why should other colleges that dont sponsor/offer NMS awards care?

Oh well, I guess I am reading too much into the wording.

12

This doesn’t seem to end!

REF: http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf

On page 4:
a) Jan 25, 2015 the selection committee begins “choosing” award winners. I think they will choose 2500 winners. These students can join any college they get into. So what is the point in asking them to pick a top choice college when they already have an award? Can these students also be awarded corporate/college-merit awards, and have a choice to pick one??

b) By Mar 11, 2015 is when the 1000 corporate award winners are decided and informed. Same questions as above for these 1000 students as well! What is the need for them to pick a top choice college? They already have an award, so why bother.

I can only see the 3rd type of award, the college-sponsored award that would require the student to select a top choice to let the college know of her/his high-interest in it. These remaining 11500 students (15000-2500-1000) can boost their chances of admission and other awards by naming a top choice college.

Am I missing something??

13

The first two categories (NMS and corporate) require indication of first-choice college OR UNDECIDED only because students can only use a National Merit scholarship (of any type) at a property accredited institution of higher education within the United States.

14

Here’s my advice: if your child ends up in category 3 (college-sponsored NMS scholarship) and doesn’t want to go to a college that gives out the scholarships and the $2500 per year is not significant in terms of your finances and the financial aid packages, your child should go to the college she or he wants to go to and that you can afford. Designating a college as top choice doesn’t mean the child has to go there, if she’s OK with not receiving the NMS college-sponsored scholarship.

15

If the school does sponsor an NMS, that would be your best bet. The next would be employer sponsored one. The chance for getting the NMSC’s own one is harder. Most of the NMF do not get anything other than the title.

16

So, do the colleges pick the people for their officially sponsored award or does NMSC?

17

Been following this thread and I am wondering: Do kids who will most probably have a corporate sponsor ( the company indicates they will sponsor all finalists who are dependents of their employees) still need to name a first choice college? By what date I wonder?

18

Another scenario - winning $2500 before college selection:

  1. NMF does not initially choose the first choice college.
  2. NMF is fortunate enough to receive the $2500 from NMSC on March 27 (March 26 NMSC mails offers of National Merit $2500 Scholarships).
  3. NMF finally names first choice college on March 28.

NMSC (http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf) says:

“Consideration for a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award is limited to Semifinalists who qualify as
Finalists and who also… 3. have not been offered any other National Merit Scholarship (corporate-sponsored, National, or another college-sponsored award). No student will receive more than one scholarship offer from NMSC.”

Question:

By being offered the $2500 before naming a college, doesn’t this prevent the student from being considered for the college-sponsored scholarship? Or are two types of awards are independently considered regardless of timing?

19

In your example, the student is prevented from being considered for the college-sponsored scholarship BECAUSE he or she was offered the $2,500 scholarship. The timing is irrelevant in this instance.

20

My son is a finalist, listed a universityl as first choice - because of the full ride offer for finalists, who declare them the favorite by March 1. However, it is not his actual first choice! His HS counselor contacted that school, and the university agreed to accept the NMS deadline of May 1. Might try with other colleges/universities.