<p>@College2000 and others similarly situated. Sounds very familiar – state flagships that are affordable due to NMF/merit $$ -vs- higher ranked, more prestigious private schools that are probably unaffordable for our family. Our opinions vary daily … lots of what ifs. Keep reminding ourselves that the NMF kids are lucky to be in this situation. CC is a good place to voice these concerns, isn’t it?</p>
<p>I know in our house the college decision would have been different if he were our youngest instead of the oldest. The unknown rising costs for the 2 younger kids have made me very risk adverse.</p>
<p>Multiple visits to the financial safety and active CC threads really helped in the decision. Student and parents all feel that we have a good handle on what is available at the financial safeties and that really helped alleviate unfounded fears that certain schools would not meet academic and peer needs.</p>
<p>I firmly believe that a motivated student will flourish anywhere. I also know my kid is motivated for a 17 year old, but not what I would define as motivated over all. The peer group was my personal highest concern.</p>
<p>Mine’s a junior so only a NMSF hopeful at this point. Scores are high enough that they’ll probably make cut but not so high we can sit back and relax. Schools are USC, Yale, and Pitt. if they are NMF next year, likely adding Kentucky to list and possibly Florida schools, Oklahoma City University, and Fordham. By Florida schools, I mean UCF, USF, and possibly Florida State. We have several other maybes but need to make more college visits before narrowing those down. Rice is also somewhere on the list.</p>
<p>We’re down to the wire now. Daughter (chemical engineering major) will need to decide soon. We live in Kansas and she wants to go out-of-state. She’s considering Northwestern, Tulsa and Oklahoma State. The two Oklahoma schools are full-rides; Northwestern (no surprise) is not. Trying to sort through all the variables.</p>
<p>Well, D just committed to Y a L e. So nothing extra for NMF, but it is doable for us financially. This was quite the process, and we were greatly helped by all in this forum. It was nice to have options on the table and weigh the pros and cons of each. Thanks to all who shared information!</p>
<p>Sonn 2b… I am a dad with a freshman NMF at OU (great school for her). Be sure your D realizes the difference size makes between Tulsa and the other two. To some its a plus to others a negative, but it is a big difference</p>
<p>Great advice, dramadad. I have a son at TU (studying ChemE) and he loves it because it’s small. He found OU somewhat overwhelming. My second son visited TU and felt it was way too small for him. He’s headed to OU in the fall. 
Different strokes…</p>
<p>ctl987, Yale and USC are not on the list of Natl Merit associated schools (the ones on the list usually give 1500 to 2000/year) and I’m almost certain that they are not in the small list of schools that give a lot more if you are a NMF–ie schools like u of Oklahoma, U of Alabama, U of Dallas, etc. (the latter, these schools that give the large amts, almost full rides, do it on their own, not through NM, although the kid gets it by being a NMF). Yale, like most of the highly selective schools, does not give money for being a NMF. They figure that the majority of their accepted students are indeed finalists, and the look at it like this: your benefit or “prize” for being such a good student that you made NMF is that we will accept you. That is how Amherst is, too. My son is a NMF this yr and will be going to Amherst in the fall. So he won’t get a NM scholarship through Amherst, since Amherst does not link up w/ NM. However, he got the NM Award, a one-time $2500 scholarship that 2500 kids out of the 15,000 finalists get (chosen by a committee of teachers; based on grades, SAT, and portfolio–ie essays, teacher recs).</p>
<p>Thanks Jennieling. Knew about Yale. However, the way they calculate EFC, it still appears affordable for us. Joked some with my kid on it cause our EFC is shall we say A LOT higher at other schools. But I guess by Yale’s standards, we’re “poor”. I will gladly accept the help though even though it’s a very long shot. USC does give 1/2 tuition scholarships for NM finalists last time I checked. Congrats on yours giong to Amherst. excellent school by all accounts Interesting that mine seems to be gravitating away from the schools that give generous NM awards and gravitating towards schools that give or might give a lot of merit aid regardless of NM status. Not planned at all. It just seems that schools that fit their personality and interests don’t have high NM awards(other than USC). So we shall see. Wish we could find out before August/Sept if they made the cut though. I know we can’t but aagh on that issue :/</p>
<p>Our son committed to UAB last night and is taking advantage of their generous NMF scholarship. He also won the $2500 scholarship directly from the National Merit folks so the first year is almost completely covered.</p>
<p>He was accepted to MIT, Ga Tech, UVA, VCU, Drexel and Duke. He turned down a full ride merit scholarship to VCU and a generous merit scholaship to Drexel. </p>
<p>His dad and I aren’t convinced he made his choice for rational reasons - girlfriend is attending UAB in the same major and pre-med program but he’s made a choice. We’ll have to see how this all works out. At least we’re not going broke while it all plays out.</p>
<p>D will attend ASU for oboe/math. She decided some time ago, already registered for fall classes. Received music scholarship in addition to the NMF tuition/fees, so a good portion of rm/bd is covered. Accepted (not all for music) GaTech, McGill, Vandy(good need-based aid), MiamiU(good merit scholarship+Stamps invite),UNC-Chapel Hill, UMichigan, UW-Madison, UIUC(for music, good merit, about half COA) and several NMF scholarship schools. Received highest scholarship given at Stonybrook and Rutgers.</p>
<p>^^^Congratulations to your daughter! I am sure she will have a wonderful fo years at Arizona State!</p>
<p>kjcphmom, thanks. She seems to think she will. And thank you for all your advice via PM. Very helpful.</p>