Which schools offer full ride for National Merit Finalists? is UCF really a full ride?

@LucietheLakie The full-rides are at Texas Tech and UCF. I did not imply that Alabama and Oklahoma are full-rides.
After adding the NMF scholarship and other merit aid and fellowships received from Alabama, my son will pay $0 first year and under $3000 in years 2-5 (depending on off-campus housing costs). Oklahoma will be a little more, around $8000 in first year and under $5000 in years 2-5. They both also are add stipends for foreign travel, research and technology. Mississippi State matches Alabama NMF award plus throws in free room for all four years. Baylor also has a very generous package which is worth around $175000. All are OOS for my son.

^^ Actually, what you wrote could easily be interpreted that way, so thanks for clarifying.

@FrozenMaineMom - there are definitely some Northeast options. Fordham offers full tuition to NMSF. Your child would likely qualify for Temple’s full tuition plus stipend as well. We also checked out Pitt, Rutgers, and U Del as they will give full tuition to some high stats students.

At Alabama, OU and any other schools w/out full ride - can they stack other merit aid? My Jr. son will find NMSF out in Sept. but is at scores need for NMSF. He has 4.0/4.35, 34 ACT and top 2-3% of class. He will be OOS. Thanks.

I can confirm that OU does stack merit aid.

Arizona State and UArizona are also warm and had been offering very generous NMF awards—full ride or close back in the day, but not certain about their current policy. UA has an honors college as well.

University of New Mexico, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Texas Tech and U Idaho offer full rides. UT Dallas is just a teensy bit short of a full ride.

Just want to add that the “teensy bit short” gives a lot of flexibility for accepting outside scholarships

After freshman year UTD can basically be a full ride depending on the housing options you choose. Freshman year we figured it would be about the cost of books we would be responsible for. Though if she gets a NMSC scholarship that will cover books and be a bit more freshman year.

@ksmom48, at Alabama, you can stack any additional scholarships on top of the Presidential without impacting the Presidential.

Hey there, I’m also a 2018 NMF looking at those same two schools

I know UT Dallas is really generous with their national merit but I shudder at the thought of living in Texas that long… it’s just so insanely hot, I couldn’t stand it.

With that in mind, it might seem a little weird that I’m looking at UCF, but I’m from Florida and I really just want to go home.

On that note, I’m wondering - did you select UCF as your first choice with national merit and have them tell you FOR SURE that they’re going to cover everything? I spoke to someone on the phone who made it sound like it’s only going to be 18k a year - which in light of the full cost of attendance is not nearly enough

Also, what else have you learned about these two schools and where do you think you’re going?

I know UCF is really big (largest in the country if my info is correct) so I was just wondering if the campus size is increased to compensate for that, or if they just cram everyone into a normal plot of land and hope for the best?

@confusion101 coming from someone who has lived in many parts of Florida (from Pensacola all the way down to the keys and and many points in between) and a current Austin, Texas for the last decade. I really had to laugh at your comment about the the heat in Dallas. The summers in Texas are much drier that those in FL so more comfortable and Dallas is several hours NORTH of us, they have real winter there with ice and snow. We are going to have to buy DS a winter coat! The weather is more on par with the Atlanta area but less humid.

@confusion101 Hello! I am a 2018 NMF too! I already officially selected UCF as my first choice. They sent me a digital contact to sign and in it, it stated a guaranteed $18000 scholarship per semester, making it $36000 per year. UCF also gives their NMF $2000 broken up to $250 per semester for those that do not recieve a NMSC or corporate scholarship. This allows all students to be officially NM Scholars! The $36000/yr scholarship is already updated in my myUCF financial aid account so it is real! I swear! When I visited in March, I noticed that the various was definitely on the large side! I noticed no signs of crowding and the layout of the campus makes everything very accessible. On the first page of this thread, comment 6, I posted a link to my full review of UCF. I am very excited to start next year and hope to see you there!

@confusion101 We visited UCF and it seemed to me that is was larger then lots of schools but also very well designed. I think the circular layout makes it more efficient. I compared it in my mind to Ohio State which we also visited and OSU seemed unworkable large to walk. Not so with UCF.

@sewin2music Hi! When I first saw your comments on here I thought it was a little insane how similar your decision was to the one I now have to make. I still have yet to commit to a school. I’m heavily leaning towards UCF - it’s an amazing school and the concept of going there without driving myself into huge amounts of debt still seems too good to be true. My only source of hesitation is the 11-month contract for towers and the fact that UT Dallas has such a strong program… while I definitely prefer UCF overall, I’m a big “option paralysis” kind of person and I’m having trouble convincing myself that I won’t regret passing up the offer from UT.

With that in mind, I was wondering if you could tell me a little about why you decided to pick UCF over UT Dallas and any interesting information you found when directly comparing those two schools. It would really help me make the decision and finally stop stressing about college… May 1st is in less than a month!!

Also, how are you handling the fact that living in the Honors LLC requires paying for housing in the summer? I’m torn between just finding a cheaper option or just sucking it up and paying the extra 2k, but I’m probably going home over break and I don’t like the idea of spending my summers working to pay for a room I’m not gonna be living in. (Note: I already have enough AP credit to exempt me from the FL summer semester, and I probably won’t be taking classes during the summer since I dont think tuition is covered by the scholarship?)

Thanks, and maybe I’ll see you in the fall!

Hello @confusion101 I totally get where you are coming from!! I am the worst at making decisions (of any size, from choosing something on a menu to life decisions). I was actually really surprised by how natural this decision came to me since it was a huge source of stress for me for a long time.

I think that the most helpful thing I did in making this decision was visiting the campus. I know that this is not possible for everyone, so I’ll just give you the gist of my perspective.

UT Dallas was a perfect fit for my personality. It seemed like a fairly quiet campus with a strong nerdy undercurrent. There was happily a lack of crazy party people and everyone seemed very motivated and studious. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this; I fit perfectly into this campus culture. The only thing is is that I want to be surrounded by different people and different personalities. I know that they were there, somewhere, but the campus felt very homogeneous in terms of personality. I didn’t feel like there were the kinds of opportunities that I would need in order to grow and find my place. Yes, there were study abroad programs, symphonies, ballets, etc that are so valuable in becoming cultured and gaining a better perspective of the world. I know that I would have been successful academically and likely joined and excelled in multiple clubs, but I wanted more. Texas was also really cold…In comparison to the 70 degree weather I left behind in CA, that morning with 20 degrees was not fun!

UCF on the other hand felt completely different. For one thing, my first thought was that it was so green!! The more that I talked with the students and staff, the more I felt at home. Everyone seemed so excited about what they had, are, and will be doing. I met so many different majors and personalities. I saw so many opportunities to get involved on campus and in Orlando. I felt that the school and its students/staff wanted me to go there and I did too. I loved the campus layout, the staff, the students, the NM program, my major program, the housing, the area. The only thing I didn’t love was the alligator that I could have sworn I saw in a lake near the hotel. But it was dark…so I don’t know…

I guess all of that may seem arbitrary since it’s all opinion/perspective, so here are a few more concrete differences. When I visited, I saw that there are a crazy amount of CS and engineering majors at UTD while UCF seems to have a larger variety. UTD’s campus is more modern/industrial in that it seems very pre-professional, while UCF has more trees/greenery along with a mixture of architecture styles. (One thing to note is that UCF has this small area with a bunch of hammocks that people nap/study in! I suppose that kinda sets the tone for the uniqueness of the UCF campus culture) UTD definitely does not have the Greek life/party presence that UCF has, although that can be easily avoided by choice. UCF has better food, more options and nicer layout to the cafeterias. UTD has a better/daily bus system for when you need to grocery shop; UCF’s bus to Publix only runs on Tue and the bus to Target/shopping center runs on Fri/Sat evening,

As far as summer housing goes, I am not worried. I did the math on comment #17 of this thread: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/2057290-updates-and-info-for-those-students-looking-to-become-nms-with-the-ucf-golden-knights-fall-2018-p2.html

Basically, if you set aside about $1100 of the scholarship every semester, you will be able to cover the housing(Fall/Spring/Summer), books, tuition and have ~$176 per week for personal expenses, including food, toiletries, club costs, and fun money. This seems like a pretty darn comfortable weekly allowance! This is of course an estimate and may change if you take a different number of credits, have a car, etc. I do think that the first year may actually end up being a bit easier since the housing deposit and enrollment deposit go toward the cost of housing/tuition for the first semester.

I hope this was helpful! I know it was long winded but I don’t feel like there is a short way to answer these kinds of questions just like there is no easy way to choose a college. Good luck on making your choice! UTD is a wonderful school, just not for me.

I did make separate posts for my full review of UTD and UCF awhile ago on the 2018 National Merit thread. If you can’t find them, I can send you the link/comment #.

Florida schools require students to take a certain number of credits in the summer. I’m guessing the 11 month contract is a way to keep the dorms full and to encourage students to take those required credits their first summer and not put it off.

If you live at any school off campus, you’re likely going to pay for a 12 month lease. My daughter did, twice, and didn’t live in the house at all in June or July, and only for a week in May. The lease price was similar to 8 months in the dorm.

@confusion101 Just to add my to cents, you don’t have to live in Towers. It is my understanding quite a few NMS also live in Neptune which doesn’t require an 11 month lease. Neptune suites don’t have kitchens but there is one on each floor. When we had lunch with the 4 NMS reps on our tour, at least 2 of them lived in Neptune freshman year, not Towers. Luke will try to match NMS up as roommates at any dorm selected I think.

@confusion101

The state of Florida requires students to take 9 credit hours during the summer…any summer…while in school. It’s part of trying to get students off the 6 year plan back to a 4 year plan…lol. These hours do not have to be taken from/at your chosen school, nor do they have to be taken at any brick and mortar. They can be taken online. If you are going to take any hours at another school, online or in person, you must let ucf know because they must approve them ahead of time and you apply to that school as a transient student.

There are rules on how to exempt from this requirement…its not as simple as having lots of AP credits. If you get an exemption…get it in writing!

Living in towers is great, but if you don’t need it for summer, consider the other dorms. I think only towers and northview have full year contracts.