National Merit Scholarships National Merit Scholarships at FAUFAU OWL

National Merit Scholarships

  • National Merit Scholarships are awarded to students who have been designated as Finalists  by the National Merit Corporation.
  • National Merit scholarship recipients who are Florida Residents are eligible for the Benacquisto Scholarship Program, which awards a Finalist up to the cost of attendance.
  • Out of state Finalists are not eligible for the Benacquisto Scholarship Program. They will receive competitive scholarships, although they will be partially responsible for covering cost of attendance.
  • National Merit Scholars are eligible for awarded scholarships for 8 semesters, or until graduation from your Bachelor’s degree at FAU, whichever comes first.

Renewal Requirements

  • Students must be enrolled as undergraduate students for the Fall Semester of their entry year.
  • Students must be enrolled in 12 credits per semester and maintain a 3.0 GPA (only fall/spring count toward credit requirement) in order to have their scholarships renewed each year.
  • A student enrolled in the Summer must be enrolled at least half time (6 cr.) in order to be eligible for Summer aid.
  • Once the National Merit Scholarship Corporation has mailed out an offer, the student will not be able to change the institution designation. Transient credits will not count toward the requirement. Students must enroll for the Fall Academic Term to receive National Merit designation. Deferment is not possible.
  • An application is not required to renew the award. Eligibility for renewal is determined at the end of the second semester, third quarter or the equivalent of each academic year. For automatic renewal, an award recipient will have:
    • Earned credit for all hours enrolled by the end of the regular drop/add period each term.
    • Earned a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
  • A student who does not maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA by the end of the spring semester or third quarter of the academic year shall be ineligible to continue in the program.
  • A student who does not meet the required credit hours shall be ineligible to continue in the program.

APPEAL

An applicant who believes financial aid has been wrongly denied has certain rights to appeal. If aid is denied for failure to meet state academic progress requirements, an applicant may appeal the denial to the institution by providing proof of illness or other emergency beyond the applicant's control. An institutional academic progress appeal is to be filed within 30 days of the denial letter or by the date established by the institution's financial aid office, whichever is later.