Which National Merit Scholarship gets priority if all 3 types are possible?

albert69
Wed, 18 Feb 2015 16:30:37 +0000

The way that I understand it is, the large (like full tuition+) scholarships are different than the “official” college-sponsored NM scholarships from the school. The way it was explained to me was, say your kid does not get a college sponsored award, then he/she could still get the large award from the school if you follow their guidelines (get accepted, name the school as first by their deadline, etc.) If your kid got the “official” award, which isn’t very big - like $1000-$2000 per year range - it would simply be designated as part of the large award. You wouldn’t get any less or any more money than the large scholarship, but your kid would be a NMS, for whatever it’s worth.

If you get the $2500 award or a corporate award, your kid would not be ineligible for the large unofficial awards, I know that. I’m not sure exactly how the $2500 or corporate awards are paid, but I don’t think you could get any less than the large awards.