BU and NEU - Confused about early deadlines for National Merit first choice college

Paying for College Financial Aid (Need-Based, Merit Aid, Loans)
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I have so many questions about this whole process.

So BU says I have to put them as my first choice by March 1st and NEU says March 31st. Does that mean if I do not put either of them as my first choice by their deadline, I will be ineligible for their national merit scholarship? Say I pick BU, but I end up getting rejected and switch my first choice to Northeastern (but this will be after March 31st most likely), can I still get their scholarship? If I just stay undecided until May 1st, can I still get either of these scholarships?

Is it better to pick a college by March 1st? Like does it make me more likely to get the scholarship?

Also, if I pick a college before their decision date, and they end up accepting me and they decide to give me a national merit scholarship, can I still change my first choice college to a different college or am I stuck with that scholarship only?

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Tagging @TomSrOfBoston.

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Both Northeastern and BU announce RD decisions in mid-March, usually between the 15th and 20th.

No. You may get merit scholarships but not the NMF bump up.

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They don’t make it easy do they? You can always contact the NMSC with your questions. From what I hear they are nice and helpful.

These two schools in particular are pretty cagey and secretive about the NMF scholarship awards. For example, BU says only that you will be “considered” for the award, but they do state the amount is the same as the presidential scholarship which is currently $25K. NEU on the other hand guarantees a NMF an award but only says it is “competitive” - whatever that means. I suppose it could be $2,500 or $25,000, or somewhere in between and might be different for different students? You can always call/email admissions and ask for clarification and see what they say.

From my research for my S24 who is also a NMF and also applied to BU and Northeastern, it seems to me that if you do not designate BU as your first choice by 3/1 then even if you get in, you won’t be eligible for the scholarship. Note that not all NMFs who get into BU get the NMF scholarship, the website only says that you are “considered” for the NMF scholarship. They do not post how many they provide, versus how many NMFs do not get the scholarship, or at least I haven’t seen that info. I’ve only seen on here anecdotally that some say they did not get it despite being NMF and accepted to BU.

Same with Northeastern - you’ve got to designate them as your first choice by 3/31 or you won’t be eligible for their NMF scholarship, even if you get in. As others have said, NeU historically comes out with admissions decisions mid-March, so you’ll know before the 3/31 deadline, unless of course you are wait-listed. Which then throws a wrench in the already complicated process.

So - my S24’s plan is to designate BU by 3/1 and then see if he gets in and gets a NMF merit award from them. If he doesn’t get in, then switch it to NeU (if he hasn’t yet heard from admissions), which historically comes out mid-March (for both BU and NeU).

You definitely should make a decision and follow a plan and pivot if necessary. And stay on top of the deadlines, it would be a shame to get in and not “eligible” for the scholarship.

Note that the scholarship from BU/NeU is different than the NM scholarship offered and administered by NMSC (be it the NM $2,500 scholarship, the corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship or the college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards) which NMSC notifies awardees starting on May 1, 2024. If you designated a first choice by 5/1 and you get notified by NMSF that you’ve been awarded one of the college-sponsored Merit Scholarships starting May 1, 2024 then you cannot get a different college-sponsored Merit Scholarship even if you change your mind and the school offers them. And note also from the NMSC finalist letter that you can remain undecided after May 1, but must make a final first choice by 5/31/24 to get an NMSC to get a college sponsored award. Obviously, you have to comply with the college stated deadlines for designating them through the OSA dashboard to be eligible for their NMF scholarships which trump the NMSC deadlines for the purposes of the college’s own NMF scholarships.

If I’ve got any of this wrong @TomSrOfBoston please chime in. This whole process is unnecessarily confusing imho.

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In the past decade Northeastern and Boston University have changed the mix of aid, more need-based aid, less merit aid. At Northeastern NMF was full tuition guaranteed for 8 semesters. Now that is $30,000/year max and not guaranteed.

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I think this is the only way to approach this problem. This would have been our kid’s plan as well (kid is attending elsewhere and has withdrawn these apps).

Northeastern’s date seems to have changed to April 11?

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Thanks for the head’s up. He’ll have all decisions by then, of course, so that will limit the machinations necessary over here. What a process this is.

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See NEU’s current nmsf webpage. Seems April 11 is the new date.

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The way I read that is that, if you want to know if you are awarded the scholarship before you enroll (i.e. by May 1), you need to let NMSC know NEU is your first choice by April 11. That way, NMSC has time to notify NEU and NEU has time to update their financial aid site. Obviously I don’t work for NEU, but that is my interpretation.

USC has the following on their website.

Beginning in March, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation sends the Financial Aid Office a roster of all finalists who have selected USC as their first choice school. This roster is updated every two weeks.

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Well, NEU was a bust, so now switching to BU, which I just saw on another thread is coming out on 3/23. If that’s a bust too, then will switch to USC, unless USC comes out earlier. Anyone else got updates?

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I agree - one is still eligible after 4/11 but NEU only offers limited NMSF scholarships these days, so the sooner you let them know your preference, the better.

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USC may come out earlier, but it won’t matter if you list them as #1 or not. If your student is accepted, you have until May 31 to make the change with NMSC.

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My D24 waitlisted at NEU, also anxiously waiting on BU! She much preferred BU over NEU, so listed it as her first choice awhile ago.

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So I am accepted at both Kelley at IU and NEU. I was awarded some merit scholarship about 10K at Kelley. If I designated NEU as my first choice, how soon they will let me know how big the merit scholarship it is going to be? I am hoping for 30K/year, that will bring the cost down close to KELLEY, otherwise, I will probably choose KELLEY over NEU. And if I did end up choose KELLEY over NEU, could I change my designated first choice from NEU to IU (after 4/11 but before 5/1)? Does NMSC allow the finalist to change first choice? Thank you!

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How soon do I find out if they will be awarding me 30K the maximum/year? Assume I will choose NEU as my first choice. I am choosing between KELLEY and NEU at the moment, and COA is a major factor in my decision making. Thank you so much for your help.

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No idea, sorry. This year due to the FAFSA mess it is hard to tell. You may want to call admissions re: NMF.

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And/or call NU Financial Aid on Monday as well… That was meant for @Bearloop

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