<p>Dukealumni,
Beyond the official National Merit scholarships, there are schools that offer automatic scholarships based on a student attaining National Merit Semifinalist or Finalist standing.
Baylor offers very large scholarships to National Merit semifinalists and finalists. My daughter’s first choice school offers 50% tuition to all National Merit Semifinalists, and her backup school offers full tution to semifinalists, or full tuition, room, and board to finalists. Other schools increase their ‘top’ academic scholarship award by a set amount if the student is a National Merit Semifinalist. </p>
<p>If your son’s only issue is a lower SAT score, it would be wise to have him study and retake the SAT. My daughter also did better on the ACT, as she is more scientifically inclined, but since only the SAT is accepted, it is prudent to work toward a better score on that. There are 3 more tests dates for this year’s batch of semifinalists to use before final scores are due.</p>