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I'm gonna be a National Merit finalist probably next year (I'm a junior with high enough psat score and the gpa/other stuff to back it up). I've been looking online at lots of college websites trying to find out which colleges offer the most money for National Merit.. I live in FL so i can get Bright futures to pay my full tuition, so all the NM money would go to room and board etc... Does anyone have a list of what colleges offer for national merit? Or could some people post what colleges they know offer? Thanks.

By Dolce (Dolce) on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 03:34 pm: Edit

This is similar to a question I posted on the "national merit process" thread, but I didn't get any response. Here's what I know:
Univ of Oklahoma gives full ride to all NMF's.
Ball State has been giving full ride, plus laptop and printer, but they aren't doing that for freshmen entering this fall. (I talked personally with the dean of admissions during our visit there, and he explained all the how-comes behind that. They are hoping to re-institute the automatic full rides for 2004, but it's not definite).
I think Ariz State and Univ of Ariz give full rides.
I hope people will chime in here and help us compile a really thorough list.

By Scrsteven (Scrsteven) on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 04:12 pm: Edit

Yea...here are links to the websites I know of so far that offer something:

Rice gives up to 2000 total http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~fina/polpro.htm#section2e

UTA gives 10000 per year = 40000 total http://honors.uta.edu/core/nationalmerit.php

UF gives...:"UF participates in the National Merit Scholarship Program and guarantees that all students who qualify as Merit Scholar finalists and name UF as their college of first choice will receive $24,000 over four years: $5,500 each year. Out-of-state awards are $40,000 over four years: $9,500 each year. The remaining $2,000 award is for participation in an undergraduate research or overseas study program. "

THe University of Oklahoma gives full ride
http://www.go2.ou.edu/text_only_natlscholars.htm

Emory gives only 1000 or 2000 depending on need
http://www.emory.edu/FINANCIAL_AID/scholtype.htm#merit

Wabash gives up to 2000 per year plus other possible full ride scholarships
http://www.wabash.edu/admin/financial/Merit.shtm

By Marthpodi (Marthpodi) on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 04:12 pm: Edit

UF is $5500/year plus research stipend
UCF is 9800/year

Those are two of the ones i remember

By Dolce (Dolce) on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 07:59 pm: Edit

I just found this one while surfing tonight. University of Evansville gives automatic full tuition (worth about $19,000) to NMF. US News ranks this school #10 top tier Univ-Masters-Midwest.

By Scrsteven (Scrsteven) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 08:03 am: Edit

bump

By Autodidact (Autodidact) on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 - 04:59 pm: Edit

ISU is full ride, tuition, room and board instate.
Nebraska was similar out of state with stipend, one of Arizona's was $55,000 (about 75% of out of state tuition) ASU will continue to recruit (interestingly, even after May 1, reminding you of Barretts Honors Program--I believe they are looking to bring their numbers up in a big way. I will post others as I turn up my daughters existing offers next week--particularly if we don't soon get something written in hand from Truman State University to validate their verbal full tuition offer.(GRRR!) One of Florida's colleges or university's was 67 or 77 thousand all total for out of state (Sorry folks, I'll dig up the old letters.) I believe we received from all of those previously mentioned as well as South Dakota, and possibly Texas A & M, unsolicited. Don't waste your "first choice" on an Ivy, if financial aid is a consideration in your college plans. LAC will probably be more willing to meet your need. Good luck!

By Dolce (Dolce) on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 - 09:41 pm: Edit

Autodidact, can you tell me anything about Truman State? The website and materials we've gotten sound interesting, but I'd never heard of it before. Do most NMF's get full scholarships? I think the website says that NMF's can receive "up to" full scholarship.

By Medusa2003 (Medusa2003) on Thursday, May 08, 2003 - 01:44 am: Edit

I'm not Autodidact but I can provide some information about Truman State.

Truman State is the "highly selective" (most students are in the top 1/3 of their high school class)public liberal arts university for the state of Missouri located in a fairly isolated small town of about 17,000 and has about 6,000 students. About 3/4 of the students are Missouri residents. Our daughter, a Missouri resident, was a NMF and was offered a full-ride plus $1,000. Most classes are fairly small and the school has a reputation for having excellent accessible teachers. The students we know that have attended Truman generally have favorable things to say about it. Beautiful and safe campus. The school generally markets itself as an affordable alternative to expensive private colleges which provides more personal attention than the large public universities. Strong programs include biology, chemistry, business administration, and foreign languages.

By Momof2 (Momof2) on Thursday, May 08, 2003 - 10:12 am: Edit

My son received a full tuition and fees offer from Texas A&M, also TTech and UTA (Arlington), along with numerous smaller TX schools. I believe University of Arizona sent several letters with a similar offer, but including a substantial portion of room and board. He chose University of Oklahoma, for its engineering program, ease of travel from home and the financial offer seemed to work out best. The tuition waiver is good for 5 years, and he may do the 5 yr bachelor/masters plan. Our estimate is about $1100 per year out of pocket there. We go to enroll next week, so I can report back any errors after that. This figure includes a double room, generous meal plan and $1000 for books (low?), but before allocating any spending money. Hope this helps.

By Autodidact (Autodidact) on Friday, May 09, 2003 - 02:36 pm: Edit

Thanks for picking up the ball Medusa2003. This is a busy, busy week for us as graduation is tomorrow, APtests this and next week, and just LIFE to deal with as well as torrential rains most of this week, and my house has a leaking roof. I will be visiting Truman in just a couple of weeks, just my daughter went with a friend and her mom originally, as I was out of state with DD2. My daughter received confirmation, full out-of-state tuition +$750 National Merit Scholarship Corp--but it is not automatic my daughter says, so I will check on this when we visit. She had previously received a Presidential Leadership and Combined abilities scholarship, but it was increased when she notified them that she was a finalist. My daughter was attracted by strong languages and study abroad program as well as political science/government. She will double major in Classical and Modern Languages--offers 11, I believe, as well as Political Science with possibly a minor in business admin.
It has a growing reputation as a "budget Ivy", and was just listed as one of the top 100 schools where you can get an excellent education at bargain prices. My daughter's statistics instructor at Drake University is an alumni, and a super person.
The only complaint we have heard is that the students go to Wal-Mart for entertainment, so students may need to be creative to establish enriching/diverse ops. for entertainment. I'll post a college visit report in June. They seem to have better than average scholarships within her departments. Hope I was some help.

By Altereagle (Altereagle) on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 01:15 am: Edit

Full Ride: U. of Oklahoma
: Oklahoma State
: U. of Kansas
: Arizona State
1/2 Tuition: U.S.C.
Near full Tuition: Case Western (1500 SAT)

By Medusa2003 (Medusa2003) on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 08:17 pm: Edit

The full ride at the University of Kansas only applies to Kansas residents for students starting in the fall of 2003. Out of state National Merit Finalists only get $5,000 ( which is less than half of out-of-state tuition ).

By Momof2 (Momof2) on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 - 11:13 am: Edit

Reporting back after my son's enrollment at OU last week under the NM package: For 17 hours, fees, room & board, our estimated semester bill is $202 before books. This includes $245 of course specific technology fees for engineering, etc. Regular non-resident charges would have been $7073 for the semester.

Thanks to their NM early enrollment system, he was able to get into every class he needed at the times he wanted, even the Honors sections. So far we are very satisfied.

ONE GOOD STORY - There were about 50 parents in our very serious parent meeting (all NM scholars, mind you). In the Q & A segment after the presentation, the very first question was:
"HOW SOON CAN MY KID SIGN UP FOR THE FOOTBALL TICKET LOTTERY?"
Yes, it was a dad (sorry, guys!)

By Thedad (Thedad) on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 - 11:49 am: Edit

Aw, don't disappoint the dad...UCLA is going to shock and smoosh OU this fall.

By Concerned (Concerned) on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 08:52 pm: Edit

what about Vanderbilt, University of Virginia, Washington University, Stanford, University of Michigan, Emory---do they give anything?

By Medusa2003 (Medusa2003) on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 10:03 pm: Edit

Washington University does give small ( under $2,000 per year ) scholarships to NM finanlists. However, being a NMF is no guarantee of admission. Many National Merit Finalists were waitlisted at Washington University.

By Momof2 (Momof2) on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 12:03 pm: Edit

My child was accepted at Wash U., was offered a $2000 NM award and a smallish merit scholarship. Apparently NM, 34 ACT and #2 class rank did not help him much on their larger departmental scholarships. Also accepted at Vanderbilt - they pay $5000 for NM if no other merit aid awarded or $2000 with additional awards. Not much dent in the $40,000/yr estimated cost! These are 2003 figures.