National Merit Scholarships

alamemom
Sun, 13 Oct 2013 02:37:41 +0000

Hi pebbles - I know this was a frustrating situation for you when it happened. I am sorry your son was not able to get the $1,000/year.

From previous discussions (you were in on them) it seems students awarded the National Merit sponsored one-time award of $2,500 are not eligible for college-sponsored awards (note for those new to the discussion: The USC 1/2 tuition award is NOT administered by National Merit Corp - it is a USC merit scholarship. The “extra” $1,000/year is the college-sponsored award).

As your son has already received the National Merit $2,500, he is not eligible for the $1,000/year college-sponsored award per National Merit rules:

To be considered for a college-sponsored award, a Finalist must meet all
three of the following conditions. The Finalist:

must have notified NMSC that the sponsor college is his or her first choice;

must have applied for admission to that institution; and

must not have been offered any other National Merit Scholarship.

http://nationalmerit.org/Merit_About_Leaflet.pdf

The question for future candidates who are in this position to ask would be if they can decline the $2,500 one-time award in order to receive the $1,000/year award. The question will have to be asked of National Merit, as they are the ones who administer those awards. USC only administers the 1/2 tuition award. Thanks to pebbles for bringing it to the attention of current posters.