<p>@ILfather…yes, contact the National Scholars Office at OU. They are a great resource and will answer all your questions. </p>
<p>For those looking/comparing pkgs…BE SURE to find out if the school increases its awards each year to reflect annual tuition increases. </p>
<p>It can be very shocking to think you have tuition paid for (or more), only to find that the tuition award (or housing award) is frozen and by the time the student is a junior or senior the uncovered part has grown significantly. </p>
<p>Also…and this is important! check to see how many credits a tuition award covers. many students (especially STEM students) will take more than 15 credits per semester. One add’l credit per semester, can add $2000 a year to cost. So if a student takes 16 credits one semester, and 17 credits the next, the student may have to pay $3k per year add’l. </p>
<p>I haven’t looked at Oklahoma’s offer recently, but in the past, the amount that they give you for OOS tuition did not cover all of OOS tuition even the first year. Is that still the case? I think their OOS tuition is about $20k per year, so the tuition award would need to be $100k+ to cover 5 years and $80k+ to cover 4 years.</p>
<p>The last letter we received from Oklahoma estimates the value of the scholarship as $116,200 for out of state. Their breakdown is as follows:</p>
<p>100% tuition waiver for 5 years (up from partial tuition waiver)
$5,500 each year for 4 years to offset fees, books, room and board
$5,000 NM cash stipend
$4,200 freshman housing scholarship
$2000 technology and textbook stipend
$2000 research and study abroad stipend</p>
<p>*note that they estimate the tuition value as ~$81,000 in the final number, so it does show the fifth year</p>
<p>@18yrcollegemin How can the tuition value of $81,000 cover five years? Wouldn’t that be for four years?
@mom2collegekids You made some good points I hadn’t thought of. Does anyone happen to know if Kentucky or Oklahoma increases the awards as tuition increases? Just wondering if someone has the answers already before I try to contact them.</p>
<p>@ILfather Here’s a quote from a letter we got from OU about their NM scholarship this year (It has changed from last year and may change next year.)-- “On average, our National Merit Scholars pay approximately $3,800 their freshman year and approximately $8,000 their sophomore, junior and senior years for all academic expenses-- tuition, room, board, books, and mandatory fees.” So what is left to pay beyond that is travel and personal expenses. I was worried that fees were to be added on, but it looks like they’re included in this estimate.</p>
<p>You may also want to check other details of the university’s tuition structure. At some schools, once you start the tuition cost will remain flat for 4 or 5 years. That can prevent some of those unexpected bills as well.</p>
<p>@nwmom2boys The OU deal is such that if you student does not burn through all of the money in 4 years, he or she can use it in a 5th year for grad school or if taking a slightly longer path (double majors or whatever). You really have to dig into the details on some of these deals. Some offer the ‘4 years’ but it is only until they finish their 120 credits or graduate. That means that if they enter school with AP credits or the like, the deal ends up being for 3 or so years. OU’s plan specifically handles that problem. The money is there up through 5 years. If you come in with college credit through AP, you can simply push that money into grad school. The housing money allow is allowed to be used for ‘off campus’ housing after Freshman year.</p>
<p>@nwmom2boys $81,000 is a five-year amount because it covers only tuition, not fees. OOS tuition ONLY is $16,146 per year ( $64,584 for 4 years, $80,730 for 5 years as indicated in @ILfather 's table ) On top of that you have mandatory fees at $3,130.50 per year plus other specific college/program fees. The tuition waiver does not include ANY fees, but these fees are covered by other parts of the scholarship.</p>
<p>This tuition waiver is for 5 yrs tuition. I don’t think there is any way to burn through it in 4.</p>
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<p>The Kentucky scholarship covers tuition, room, and board, so the value increases accordingly as the cost of all of those items increase.</p>
<p>So it looks like Kentucky is a better deal financially than OU. But maybe OU Honors is a better program, more established.</p>
<p>The tuition waiver at OU will cover the tuition regardless of increases. However, the other parts are set dollar amounts and will not automatically increase.</p>
<p>Good point. So that could vary in the future. But off campus living after freshman year should be lower at OU. So maybe it works out in the end. </p>
<p>Oh yeah, check into the stacking of offers as well. OU’s program is stackable with most merit aid. The federal grants will reduce but that is on the feds. S1 got additional merit money from OU for Engineering and an Exceptional student scholarship (or something like that, I may have the name wrong). That all hits the bottom line. None of this is easy with many variables, but it is great to have schools willing to reward the kids who deserve it. Whatever school you end up with, good luck!</p>
<p>@Torveaux. Are you sure that “Award of Excellence” can be stacked? The document I found says it’s used to cover partial tuition. It’s for 8,000 a year, as you said. But how can you use it if tuition is already paid for w/ the NMF Award?</p>
<p>We got a detailed list from OU for the NM award. This had to be accepted separately on S1’s OU portal. I may have a few more details later in the week. Spring break here in Texas, so S1 and mom will do a formal tour.</p>
<p>We just got back from an OU visit. I thought it was great. I would be happy for my son to go there! Faculty were all very friendly and so were the students.</p>
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<p>Does the tuition waver cover the entire tuition…or just the OOS portion? AT one time (years ago) when we looked there, it only covered the OOS portion.</p>
<p>@mom2ck…OU changed the package this year. It is now a full tuition waiver for both in and out of state students. </p>
<p><a href=“https://www.ou.edu/content/go2/nationalmerit/scholarship.html”>https://www.ou.edu/content/go2/nationalmerit/scholarship.html</a></p>
<p>@nwmom2boys - Mrs T brought the kids up there Wednesday for a formal visit…you may have crossed paths. S1 decided on a dorm choice and the tour just confirmed his decision to go there. There are other schools with good financial deals for NMF kids, but OU, at least in our case, has been the most helpful and welcoming of the lot.</p>
<p>@Torveaux- We were there Tuesday, so I guess we didn’t see each other. Close, though! Right now, it’s between ASU Barrett and OU for my son. Both are great schools and were very welcoming. If my son goes to OU, he said he’d choose the Natl. Merit dorm (tower). </p>