Did Son mess up on First Choice?

mommafrog
Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:49:39 +0000

I’m learning along with you, but I’m pretty sure that the awards coming out at this point are the NM-sponsored awards ($2500, one time, can be used at ANY college or university, whether they participate in NM or not). NMF can only be offered ONE award from NMSC…so if he refuses this one, he doesn’t get anything. (I’m assuming this is a NM award, not corporate-sponsored scholarship??)

IF his other schools participate in giving NM awards, you’d need to check to see what they do about the one-time award – sometimes this screws them up, some schools will work with you (as those lovely big awards given to Finalists come mostly from the school…not NMSC, so they have some lattitude to work with you).

Did you screw up? Probably not, since a kid CANNOT receive one of the $2500 awards if they didn’t name a college (so undecided would have actually NOT been in his favor). They are still giving him time to make a choice, and will not rescind the $2500, so I would definitely call them on Monday and see if you can move to Undecided now, as the college awards aren’t mailed until late April. If they won’t allow Undecided, you do have a week to do more research about best options – I would take the time to call each of the other schools and find out how they handle the $2500 award, if it can be figured into the NMF package he may receive from them. Do any of his other schools have guaranteed scholarships to those who list them as first choice by the deadline? If it’s competitive as to how many awards are given, that’s another one to factor in.

You did folllow up, and how smart of you to write down the name of the person you spoke with – now, have a good weekend, and get ready to call them ASAP on Monday morning!!!

PS – The $2500 award is given to the top NMFs in each state – so it is an honor to receive…just frustrating if you are weighing $2500 against a full ride…such a complex process…believe me, I know – we’re in the middle of it ourselves!