UTD NMSF Scholarship Permutations?

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas Schools (Other Than Austin
1

I’m a bit confused by the scholarships that are associated with the National Merit Scholar title. Looks like there are 3 possibilities (and students can only be one) if they make the Finalist → Scholar cut: corporate funded, college funded ($500 to $2K / year), National Merit funded (one time $2500).

Corporate is out for us, so that leaves college and NM funded options. My son is looking at UTD. They offer a great NMF package. So in the case of UTD, presuming he is NMF and puts UTD down as first college choice, will that automatically make him a “National Merit Scholar” because UTD is listed as one of the college-sponsored universities? Specifically what I’m asking is:

  1. Are all NMFs that take the almost-full-ride package from UTD considered National Merit Scholars?
    1a] If Yes, then I guess it isn’t possible to get the National Merit funded $2500 since students can only get one award. True?
    1b] If No, then does that mean it is possible to get a bit additional $$ from UTD if you get one of UTDs National Merit Scholar allocations? Looks like they have about 100 of them – I don’t know if that is a rounded-down approximation or not. How much have students gotten in the past (I know the range is $500 to $2K / year)?

Lastly, I find it a bit odd that NMSC sends the scholarship offer information in late march for their $2500 awards, but college-sponsored offers don’t go out until May. What is strange about that is that students can only get 1 award so I would expect them to all be decided at the same time, especially given the monetary value can differ between the awards (NMSC always being $2.5K but the college sponsored can range from a total of $2K to $8K).

2

UTD won’t give additional funds beyond their NM package but you can receive corporate scholar funds. Corporate may not be out for you. My daughter did receive a small scholarship from a corporation that we have no ties to. The corporate scholarship can be used for books and other required small expenses - for my daughter - art supplies.

3

Thanks for the information.Is it possible to still get one of the National Merit funded scholarships ($2500) with the UTD NMF scholarship, or only the corp funded ones?

4

According to their brochure the NM pkg includes approximately $3k of NMSC scholarship depending on source. So maybe if the student doesn’t get NMSC or corporate-sponsored award UTD provides one. That is how University of Central Florida does it I believe.

5

yes, my son was awarded some amount that was from NMSC. Also keep in mind that UTD treats it’s NM students very well, lots of oppertunities to socialize with faculty, early registration and housing, travel abroad… it’s more than just the money.