I’ve spoken to 3 staff members at the University of New Mexico today and more confused than before. From UNM’s website:
Freshman Non-Resident
Admitted to UNM by February 1 Approximately $20,000 per year — covers base tuition, fees, and housing. Renewable for up to 4 years National Merit Finalist
However, the first person said my D22 would have to apply for the NMF Scholarship by Feb. 1st (after I told him she’s already been admitted, so he was clearly thinking it’s a separate application) and that it’s a competitive scholarship. The second person said no, she doesn’t have to apply, it’s automatic, but doesn’t stack with Amigo or out-of-state tuition waiver. The third person was able to confirm this information - that we would be paying the OOS tuition amount of approximately $25K. She understood this doesn’t jive with the info spelled out on their website and said she’d check into it to see if they’ve got it written incorrectly. We are in Colorado and would expect to receive the Amigo or Colorado Reciprocal scholarship to offset the out-of-state tuition. Prior year comments on this forum indicate the package was close to full COA. If the tuition waiver doesn’t stack, the NMF Scholarship becomes worth less than full tuition for OOS, not even considering fees and housing.
My daughter has traveled to their campus and really likes it. Am I being given bad information or should I scratch this one off our list?
D22 knows she’ll have to select this or another school as her top choice with NMSC, and that NMSC sends periodic lists to the schools with the students who have listed as first choice, I think I saw somewhere the first one goes out around March 1st. I’d like to get her to make her initial selection by mid-Feb to hopefully get the offer in hand sooner vs. later in case we want to change before time runs out.
I really can’t tell you anything. about what is going on in the office. It sounds like the people answering the phones are very confused. I strongly suggest that you ask to speak with the supervisor in the financial aid office and/or call the bursar’s office.
In the past the OOS tuition waiver has stacked with the NMF to basically give NM Finalists a full ride. I know of at least one OOS student (from CA) who at UNM on the NMF and he basically had a free ride.
Bursar’s name is Daniel Borrego
Email: dborrego@unm.edu
Phone: (505) 925-9255 Bursar
You could also try contacting the Director of Financial Aid
Brian Malone
Email: bmalone@unm.edu
Phone: 505 277-8900
Or the Associate Director of FA
Joseph Gonzales
Email: joego@unm.edu
Phone: 505 277-8900
Be careful with listing a first choice school and then changing it. My understanding is that, once you list a first choice school and they offer you the NM scholarship, you can’t change to another school and are locked in. We were advised not to list any first choice school until the student was 100% sure that’s where they wanted to go. I could have misunderstood, so it might be worth confirming with the National Merit office, but that was my understanding.
If you list a school as “first choice” and they offer you a NM college scholarship, you are not eligible for a scholarship through the NM program at another school.
There are very few schools that require a student to list “first choice” before May. An example of a school that requires early selection is Boston University. They require designation as first choice by March 1.
Feb 1 is very early to ask a student to make a “first choice” selection. The UNM website states that a student must be admitted by Feb 1. That is different than selecting UNM as first choice through NMSC. Since you are receiving conflicting information, I would make sure you get any offers in writing before locking in with NMSC.
Uh oh! I think my kid designated a certain school months ago as first choice, but is actually still considering 2 schools. Neither school has offered a scholarship yet. Is there still time to switch back to “undecided” status?
When my kid was deciding last year, I called the NM office twice and both times was told she could switch her first choice at any time before May 1. They did recommend making the final selection at least two weeks before May 1 just to make sure nothing went wrong. In the end, she chose somewhere with an excellent scholarship that was not an NM scholarship, so I don’t have personal experience with it working.
In regards to the original question, I also believe the UNM scholarship is close to full COA and would encourage you to reach out to the contacts listed above.
Thank you! The phone number for Financial Aid is where I got the bad info. I took your advice and emailed Brian Malone. He was able to confirm that I’d been given misinformation and that OOS get the in-state tuition rate.
Non-resident students always get the National Merit Finalist scholarship with a non-resident waiver
I don’t want to take this conversation too far from the original question. Yes, you can change your first choice multiple times but it is risky.
If are sure you will attend School A if you receive their NM scholarship, you should list them as your first choice. If they do not award you their NM scholarship then you can change your first choice to School B with the hopes that you will receive a NM scholarship there.
BUT… If School A does award you their NM scholarship then you are not be able to change your first choice and you will not receive a NM scholarship from another school. See the bottom of page 4 here.