I’m really wishing that I could just get up the nerve to call up NMSC and ask when they went out. I did have to call them in the Fall to ask a question, and the lady I talked to was really nice.
Another thought I had was that there are a LOT of colleges and scholarship apps with Jan 15 due dates, so maybe they do send them out in time for students to know so that they can meet other deadlines for colleges that might not be on the Finalist Plan. To me, that’s why you send out notifications a month early to non-Finalists…?? OK, I know. I’ll stop.
@SparkleMom97 please call and let us know! I’m too chicken.
Oh DON’T tempt me. PLEASE don’t tempt me. 
They are really nice about it; it couldn’t hurt to call…
I’m thinking about calling when I get home from school, the only thing is I feel like they would rather answer to parents than students
@4everEpical I’m a student, and they told me the cutoff score when I asked. You could try to pretend to be your mom or dad (depending on your gender.)
Just got today’s mail and no letter. Whew. This is getting ridiculous.
Okay, I just called…why not? I’m a parent, . Anyway…the gal I spoke to initially said they would be mailing yes letters to the schools on February 2nd, and to the students on February 9th. Then I asked about “no” letters, and she hemmed and hawed a bit, and said something like “we started to send them out to students who haven’t met the requirements” and then later “I can’t really tell you anything there”. So… No news is still good news and all that. Wish I had more.
@PAMom21
So we as students probably won’t know until mid-February? By “schools” you mean NMF colleges, right? Or public schools?
Hmm, good questions @albert69, one I didn’t think to ask/clarify. I assumed he meant the high schools, which means students really should know before the 9th letter. Maybe someone else should call too!
@PAmom21 Yes, letters sent to the principals on the 2nd. To the student on the 9th. One of these is a certificate–not which.
Never so happy to see bills in the mailbox! Thanks for calling @PAMom21
So, if they are only “starting” to send letters as of today, we are nowhere near out of the woods yet. Ugh. Thanks for calling @PAmom21! Good to have some kind of concrete information! Maybe my blood pressure will go down a bit now that we need to kind of settle in a wait a bit longer. 
“Started” could have been any day, not necessarily today. We have to try to hold it together for a little while longer. Hugs.
I had a “different” looking letter in the mail today & I nervously opened it to read: “Are you tired of paying high utility bills?” at which time I breathed a sigh of relief! I’m glad we’re all in this together. Hang in there everybody!
The painful thing about the word “started” is that it suggests the letters are sent in waves, meaning that no matter how many do share painful no’s, there could always be that one more.
Exactly. But at least we know. It would have been double hard to think we were OK and then get a letter. Very good thing you called.
I admit to being overly invested in this NMF thing, but, I believe, on last year’s thread there were parents who called and received confirmation that their kids were Finalists, before the letters arrived in February. I hereby nominate @PAmom because she did such a great job today!
We learned today that D had a national merit scholarship built in to her merit money offered in December from one school. Based on her grades/scores they assumed she would be finalist–the financial aid counselor said sometimes they call national merit.