Merit Scholarship Question - Accept Offer of Admission?

I know merit scholarships are not common and not a lot of money is offered. But my son with pretty good stats would still like to be in the running for them. If he accepts his offer of admission now (Engineering - Fall UP), will that damage his chances of receiving a scholarship because PSU or Engineering will have no incentive to offer one? I’m not referring to Schreyer, which in my mind is independent of the merit scholarships offered (btw - he did apply to SHC).