^ Yes, I am hoping for one of the $2500 awards. I do not think they come out that early, first the corporate ones are announced.
Does anyone know if you can win multiple scholarships? Like a corporate one and a $2500 one?
I believe it’s only one.
From the NMSC letter addressed to Dear Finalist:
From the 2015 information packet on the finalist application site (your login site for the application):
also from the same information packet:
Based on some of the questions in the previous few posts and the fact that some corporate scholarships are now posted in the osa login site, I want to emphasize that Finalists should NOT reject their scholarship offer.
If you have a corporate-sponsored offer, regardless of whether you accept or reject it, you will NOT be offered one of the $2500 scholarships nor will you be offered a college-sponsored scholarship. This refers only to any part of a college’s NMF package that is the part sponsored through NMSC. The rest of a college’s NMF package that comes from the college’s own funds is still available to you. It is as the discretion of the college whether they will make up any difference between their official NMSC part if it is larger than your corporate offer.
Thanks for the info, @STEMFamily. I am trying my best not to get my hopes up for the $2500. I wish NMSC made it clear exactly what those recipients are judged on. Looking through pervious year’s threads, it seems that the $2500 recipients are usually the ones with 220+ PSATs and 2200+ SATs. Course if it is all based on numbers, why did we have to submit an essay… I was reading mine the other day and thinking of how incredibly boring it is, fine grammar-wise, but nothing really compelling about it unless someone thinks flying a glider is cool… well, never mind my rambling.
@cttwenty15 Welcome to CC. A poster on another thread has already been offered a corporate scholarship, so those offers are out. What are your stats (PSAT & SAT scores?) I hope you get the $2500!
And is it my understanding if a school already offered you a scholarship whether half tuition, full, full ride or whatever that takes precedence over any other awards or if you win the $2500 from NMF it gets subtracted from that college award?
As an example son was given the NMF from UA. Does that mean he’s not considered for the $2500 or may still get it and it’s subtracted from the $150k or we shouldn’t care either way as regardless being a finalist he gets the UA scholarship?
@Rdtsmith The large award at UA is an unofficial NMF award - it’s not awarded through NMSC, but through the college. If UA is listed as a sponsor, then NMSC might sponsor a small award (like $1000 a year) through UA, getting it would not change the amount you would get, there would just be a little bit designated as NMSC money. If he gets the $2500 award, it might be considered an outside scholarship (that’s what it is at WSU), but UA might be different. Might want to ask them. At any rate, I do not think that you will get any less than the large UA NMF award, regardless of whether your son gets any NMSC money or not.
From OU’s web site
Note: You will only be offered one of these awards, even if you qualify for all. You should accept the one award that is offered to you.
From their scholarship package, Total ($5,000) stipend includes any award funded by National Merit.
I think it varies by school but at least at OU it doesn’t seem to matter if you get awarded the National award or not.
Thanks for your reply. I thought I had read somewhere that the $2500 gets subtracted from the portion UA awards (rather than stacked) but I can’t remember if I read that thru NM or UA somewhere or someone mentioned it here. I guess for us it’s no big deal if he wins or not and that finalist standing and what UA offers just for that is generous enough?
@Rtdsmith Then if your son got the $2500 award, it might be included as part of the UA package, but not “extra.” I think the difference between an award or no award will basically will come down to whether or not he becomes a NMS or stays a NMF (not that it makes a huge difference in the long run.)
My daughter was given the $30,000 (per year) NMF scholarship by Northeastern University. It was then trimmed to 29K when she was officially awarded a $1,000 “School Sponsored” NM Scholarship (thus, still equaling 30k per year).
Not that it is a big deal, but any student award any one of the three NM scholarships is a National Merit Scholar.
The wording of the OU scholarship is such that the $5000 National Merit part could be combined from a couple sources:
- NMF gets a corporate scholarship worth $x which is less than $5000 – the listed $5000 will be a combination of the corporate award and OU own funds making up the difference between x and $5000 so the total of this part is still $5000.
- NMF gets a corporate scholarship $y which is greater than $5000 – They will not get any of the OU $5000 but will get the full corporate award.
- NMF gets $2500 NMSC award – The $5000 will be composed of the $2500 from NMSC and another $2500 from OU’s own funds.
- NMF gets neither corporate nor $2500 NMSC award – The $5000 is awarded as OU’s college-sponsored award.
Only in the last case does any part of the $5000 come through NMSC. Furthermore, the only case that the total is greater than $5000 is if the corporate scholarship is larger. In that case, the total doesn’t include any of the $5000 from OU.
Alabama is similar in that they will make up any difference between the corporate or $2500 scholarship so that all students get $3500 per year for the stipend, regardless of the source of funds.
In all cases, the NMF is now a NM Scholar.
@Rdtsmith It isn’t that the large NMF scholarships take precedence over anything from NMSC. A large portion of those college-specific NMF awards are funded by the school itself completely independent of NMSC and so that large portion does not fall under any NMSC rules about multiple scholarships. It is only the part listed as a National Merit Stipend or similar wording that is subject to the NMSC rules. As for that “official” NMSC sponsored part of the award, no college-sponsored NMSC award has yet been officially offered because the official offer of that part will come from NMSC directly beginning May 1st. Up until May 1st, that NMSC part of any award that a college lists is just an estimate based on the amount the college knows it has sponsored through NMSC. In some cases, such as OU and UA, that “estimate” is accurate because they promise to make up any difference from their own funds if a student gets a different type of NMSC award that is smaller.
Everyone is always considered for the one-time $2500 award regardless of college choice.
Just what the $2500 award are considered on the basis of is what I wonder. Does that $2500, if you get it separate from any school scholarships, have to be spent on college expenses or can it be spent on anything? (I have some flight training costs that it would be great for, but I’m not counting on it in any way, shape, or form.)
@albert69
This is from the award letter:
The $2500 is sent directly to your school in the fall. So the question would be will the school stack the $2500 award and if so, how does your school handle any excess in your account? At my D’s school, any extra above charges from the institution (tuition, fees, room and board if applicable) will be refunded to her bank account to use as she wants. In her case, the refunded money next year when she will be living off-campus will technically be going to living expenses, books, and transportation which are all still undergraduate costs. I think if all of this is already covered by the school as a stipend, then the amount you would be refunded would be defined as coming from the school’s stipend and not the National Merit money so the NMSC rules are not broken.
@STEMFamily Hmm. Thanks for the information. Well, no use counting my chickens before they’re hatched. I probably won’t get it.
Hi @albert69 and I agree, I wish NMSC made it clear exactly what are the criteria for the $2500. I got a 233 PSAT and 750/800/780 SAT (CR/M/W), and unfortunately parents don’t work for any of the corporations.
@STEMfamily are the corporate scholarships posted on the osa login site viewable only to those who received them or can anyone view them buy logging in? I can’t seem to see anything when I log in.