What Are the Eligibility Requirements for National Merit Scholarship?

The National Merit Scholarship Program

This program enables a young person to join a university of their choice, depending on their academic performance. Any high-performing student in America, regardless of their background, can win a scholarship opportunity. One of the major criteria for securing a scholarship opportunity in this program is mainly based on the academic performance of a student.

Description of the National Merit Scholarship

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. Detailed information on the application and renewal process that guides students well can be found on the National Merit webpage.

Process

Awarding typically begins in July after the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) notifies UGA of the National Merit Finalists who have named UGA as their first choice.

Amounts
$500 per academic year and is non-negotiable.

Eligibility

Must be a National Merit Finalist
Must select UGA as their first-choice school
Must be enrolled full-time (12 hours)
Covers up to four years of undergraduate study or completion of baccalaureate degree requirements, whichever occurs first
Must continue to meet qualifications and standards set by NMSC

Types of Scholarships

Choosing Scholarship Winners
Only Finalists will be considered for the National Merit® Scholarships. Approximately half of the Finalists will be Merit Scholarship® winners. Winners are chosen based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments—without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. Scholarship recipients are the candidates judged to have the greatest potential for success in rigorous college studies and beyond.

To receive a scholarship payment, a Merit Scholarship winner must notify NMSC® of plans to

(a) enroll in a college or university in the United States that holds accredited status with a regional accrediting commission on higher education, and

(b) enroll full-time in an undergraduate course of study leading to a traditional baccalaureate degree. NMSC scholarship stipends are not payable for attendance at service academies or certain institutions that are limited in their purposes or training.

To select winners of National Merit $2500 Scholarships and corporate-sponsored awards, committees of experienced professionals evaluate a variety of information submitted by the high school and the student on the scholarship application. Included are each student’s academic record (course load, difficulty level, depth and breadth of subjects studied, and grades earned); the student’s essay; demonstrated leadership and contributions to school and community activities; and the school official’s recommendation.

Recipients of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards are chosen by officials of the sponsor institution. College officials base their decisions on information that Finalists file with the college as part of the admission process.

Types of Scholarships

Some 6,930 National Merit Scholarships of three types and approximately 660 Special Scholarships will be awarded in 2027; these 7,590 awards will have a combined value of over $33 million. Different types of scholarships will be offered, but no student can receive more than one monetary award from NMSC.

National Merit $2500 Scholarships

These awards are unique because every finalist is considered for one, and winners are named in every state and other selection unit. The number awarded in each state is determined by the same representational procedure used to designate semifinalists. Finalists compete with all other finalists in their state or selection unit for one of the 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships. Winners are selected by a committee of college admission officers and high school counselors.

National Merit® $2500 Scholarships provide a single payment of $2,500. NMSC’s own funds support the majority of these scholarships, but corporate sponsors help underwrite these awards with grants they provide to NMSC instead of paying administrative fees. Donations made to NMSC’s President’s Fund also provide funding for National Merit $2500 Scholarship awards.

Corporate-sponsored scholarships

In 2025, about 150 corporations, company foundations, and businesses sponsored scholarships through the National Merit Program as part of their educational philanthropy. These sponsors committed nearly $13 million to support approximately 830 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and 660 Special Scholarships for children of employees or for other accomplished students who meet the sponsor’s criteria.

The number of National Merit Scholarships a company or business offers annually may range from one to more than 100. Finalists who meet a sponsor’s criteria are identified from the information semifinalists supply on their scholarship applications. Winners are selected from this pool based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments. The scholarship name usually identifies the grantor—for example, the National Merit XYZ Company Scholarship.

Over two-thirds of the program’s corporate sponsors also provide special scholarships. Organizations that sponsor special scholarships make entry forms available to employees or members to enter eligible students in the corporate sponsor’s program. In addition, NMSC identifies students with qualifications of interest to a certain sponsor. Entry forms must be filed in the same academic year as the qualifying test. If the number of finalists eligible for a sponsor’s awards is smaller than the number of awards the corporate organization wishes to offer, NMSC establishes a pool of candidates to compete for the remaining awards (Special Scholarships). These candidates are the highest-scoring students who filed entry forms with the sponsoring organization but were not named finalists. NMSC sends Special Scholarship application materials to these candidates through their high schools.

Each corporate sponsor specifies the monetary limits of scholarships it finances and decides whether the awards provide one-time payments or fixed stipends that can be renewed for up to four years of undergraduate college study. (See Scholarships Offered chart below.)

College-sponsored Merit Scholarships

In the 2027 competition, it is expected that about 3,600 National Merit Scholarships will be offered to finalists who plan to attend a sponsor college or university. (See the list of about 150 colleges that currently are Merit Scholarship sponsors, here.) A college-sponsored scholarship is renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study at the sponsor institution. It cannot be transferred; therefore, it is canceled if a winner does not attend the college to receive the award.

Officials of each sponsor institution choose award recipients from among finalists who have been accepted for admission and have informed NMSC that the sponsor college or university is their first choice. Each college sponsor chooses the annual stipend their institution offers to award recipients, within a range of $500 to $2,000 per year. All college-sponsored scholarship recipients at the institution will receive the same stipend amount as determined by the college.

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