EVANSTON, Ill. - More than 2,200 winners of Merit Scholarship awards financed by colleges and universities were announced recently by National Merit Scholarship Corp.Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among finalists in the 2007 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. Another group of scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2007 competition to about 4,600. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing scholarship.
Lisa M. Batchelder, a student from Lakeland Christian Academy, won the National Merit Wheaton College Scholarship. Batchelder plans to attend Wheaton, located 25 miles west of Chicago, and major in education.
This year, more than 194 higher education institutions are underwriting Merit Scholarship awards through the National Merit Program. Sponsor colleges and universities include 125 private and 79 public institutions located in 44 states and the District of Columbia.
Today's winners are among approximately 8,200 distinguished high school seniors of 2007 who will receive Merit Scholarship awards worth $34 million for college undergraduate study. In addition to college-sponsored scholarships, two other types of Merit Scholarship awards are being offered in the competition - corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards and National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. Recipients of those awards were announced earlier in the spring.
More than 1.4 million juniors in more than 21,000 high schools entered the 2007 Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2005 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
To advance to the finalist level of the competition, semifinalists had to submit a substantial amount of information and fulfill additional requirements. Each finalist presented an outstanding academic record; was endorsed and recommended by a school official; earned SAT scores that confirmed the qualifying test performance; and provided an essay describing activities, interests, and goals.
The majority of Merit Scholarship awards provided each year are made possible by the support of approximately 500 independent corporate and college sponsors. These sponsors join NMSC in its efforts to enhance educational opportunities for America's scholastically talented youth and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.
