Guaranteed National Merit Scholarships

National Merit Scholarships

National merit awards guaranteed scholarships are given out around the country for students who perform well on their Preliminary SAT (PSAT). In many cases these national merit awards guaranteed scholarships are awarded as full rides meaning that a student will have their education completely paid for. While national merit awards guaranteed scholarships are given out across the United States not every college in every state participates in a program in which these awards are given out.

Students who have done very well on the PSAT should consider their college choices carefully, and definitely apply for a National Merit award guaranteed scholarship at colleges they are interested in attending. Should a student find that their college of choice does not offer a National Merit award guaranteed scholarship and are in sincere need of financial aid, they should seriously reconsider where they are planning to go to school. Denying a full ride scholarship because they would rather go to a school somewhere else is not necessarily the wisest choice to make unless of course the school they want to go to and have been accepted to is just simply too exceptional to pass up. It is important to note that while many universities do in fact participate in national merit awards guaranteed scholarships, they do not always provide full ride awards to students from out of state. Awards for out of state students are still very often quite substantial and should be considered as a relevant portion of potential financial aid.

Also important to know is that with regards to deadlines, colleges very often handle their own national merit award guaranteed scholarship programs which means that deadlines will vary depending on where a student is planning to go. Many colleges have a single scholarship form which will need to be filled out and submitted before that date. Students should endeavor to fill these applications out as soon as they are able. As the programs are guaranteed scholarships, by simply filling out the forms they be should assured of some level of funding.

National Merit Awards Guaranteed Scholarships by State Public Universities

New Mexico
The University of New Mexico provides $13,000 in aid to students who qualify for a national merit award guaranteed scholarship by being a valedictorian, getting a 31 on the ACT or having a 3.9 grade point average who have been admitted by February 1. New Mexico State University provides a full ride to National Merit finalists and semi-finalists who had a 30 on the ACT or are recognized as national merit finalists.

Ohio
Ohio State University provides $4,000 to students who have National Merit recognition and submit scholarship applications by December 1. Beyond this, the University of Akron provides up to $6,000 for National Merit Scholars who have been admitted by March 1 and the University of Cincinnati gives full rides to students who are residents of the state or $14,000 to students coming in from other states in the country so long as they are National Merit Scholars admitted by December 1. Youngstown State University also provides a full ride to students doing well on PSAT so long as they also scored a 30 on the ACT or 1300 on the SATs.

National Merit Awards Guaranteed Scholarships by Private School

Private schools rarely provide full ride scholarships to students who are eligible for National Merit awards guaranteed scholarships but nonetheless generally provide substantial sums of money to students who do well on their PSAT. Calvin College as an example gives out $10,000 and Concordia College gives out $15,000. The University of Dallas awards $14,000 to students who are National Merit Finalists and $12,000 to those who make it as semi-finalists. Hope College awards $17,000 to their National Merit students while North Central College will cover at least three quarters of the overall expense of school there.

National merit awards guaranteed scholarships are a fantastic way to find funding for college and will help students get an immense amount of money at various schools around the country. It cannot be denied that these programs are limited with regards to the number of schools at which they are available. However students who are in sincere need of the financial assistance should work hard from the get go to make sure they can get into a good program and get access to one of these National Merit scholarships.