So from the congratulations letter, we all read that Finalists can only be selected for one of the scholarship awards. The three types are:
• National Merit® $2500 Scholarships
• Corporate-sponsored scholarships
• College-sponsored scholarships
So if our DC is technically in the running for all three (everyone is considered for the first, my company sponsors a corporate version and my D has applied to a university that offers a NMF scholarship) which one gets the priority? It appears that the general National Merit is determined first, but that is only a one-time payment of $2500. What I don’t understand, and am hoping I am interpreting incorrectly, is that the University scholarship would then not be available.
Please tell me I am confused and looking at it incorrectly. Would someone really miss out on a fully funded scholarship at OU or Bama because they got a one-time award of $2500 from the NMSC? Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but I had never read that “only win one” statement in the Finalist letter before.
The way that I understand it is, the large (like full tuition+) scholarships are different than the “official” college-sponsored NM scholarships from the school. The way it was explained to me was, say your kid does not get a college sponsored award, then he/she could still get the large award from the school if you follow their guidelines (get accepted, name the school as first by their deadline, etc.) If your kid got the “official” award, which isn’t very big - like $1000-$2000 per year range - it would simply be designated as part of the large award. You wouldn’t get any less or any more money than the large scholarship, but your kid would be a NMS, for whatever it’s worth.
If you get the $2500 award or a corporate award, your kid would not be ineligible for the large unofficial awards, I know that. I’m not sure exactly how the $2500 or corporate awards are paid, but I don’t think you could get any less than the large awards.
There’s no issue at Bama, but here is how it works:
“A $3,500 per year Merit/Achievement Scholarship stipend for four years. A student must maintain at least a 3.3 GPA to continue receiving this scholarship stipend. If a corporate-sponsored scholarship from the National Merit Corporation is received, the total value cannot exceed $3,500. (For example, if you receive a corporate-sponsored scholarship of $2,000 per year, UA will contribute $1,500 per year to reach the total stipend amount of $3,500.)”
That’s just a small portion of the NMF scholarship at Bama. Visit scholarships.ua.edu for the complete package.