Tulane and National Merit

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

<p>Today my daughter received a letter from NMSC stating that she is a winner of a National Merit $2500 Scholarship. However, Tulane's website states that they offer $2000 per year to National Merit Finalist who list Tulane as their first choice (which we did). I wrote to the financial aid office today to find out what the procedure should be to decline the NMSC award in favor of the institutional award and was informed that because she was offered the NMSC award, she no longer was eligible for the institutional award.</p>

<p>That translates into an overall loss of $5500. It seems unfair that the mere offer of the NMSC scholarship automatically precludes her from the institutional award. </p>

<p>Mind you, I am not suggesting that she should receive BOTH awards. I just feel that NMSC should not have awarded her the $2500 scholarship knowing that they were essentially causing her to lose out on a much greater award.</p>

<p>Does anyone else have any experience with this? Thoughts? Suggestions?</p>

2

<p>I don’t know anything about those rules, but I am not seeing where you come up with $5500. The awards are annual amounts for four years, so at $500 difference per year isn’t the total difference $2,000? ($10,000 total vs. $8,000). While every bit helps of course, it is not quite as dramatic as you said.</p>

<p>Try calling the NMSC (I think they are in Iowa). I have had to call to ask about procedural issues a couple of times since my D is abroad on a leave of absence, and they were always very helpful. Maybe they can provide an explanation. It certainly seems to me that a student should be able to choose the higher of the two awards, but then again I am only being logical, lol.</p>

3

<p>The National Merit Scholarship Corporation award is a one-time award of $2500. It is not an annually renewed award.The Tulane National Merit award is $2000/year for 4 years for a total of $8000. The difference between the two is ($8000-$2500=$5500)</p>

<p>I will try calling tomorrow. I was just hoping someone else might have been through this already.</p>

4

<p>I see. I (obviously) thought you meant the $2500 was annual. Well, let us know what you find out.</p>

5

<p>OOh, challenge. Have you called NM? Are you 100% set on Tulane? If so, it would be reasonable to talk to NM and discuss this. Good luck.</p>