National Merit Scholarships
This is one of the most well known private scholarship programs in the county. It is a nationwide program in which more than 1.2 million students compete each year for more than $21 million in scholarships. The program awards 2,500 single-payment awards of $2,000, and 5,400 students receive renewable scholarships ranging from $250 to $2,000. There are several subprograms within the national program with varying types of awards and amounts. All students participating in these programs take the PSAT/NMST (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit scholarship qualifying Test), usually in their junior year of high school. Approximately 50,000 applicants receive citations for high performance. A total of 7,900 awards are given to the top finalists in competition. For information on the National Merit Scholarship and the National Achievement Scholarship Program, contact the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) at 1560 Sherman Ave, Suite 200, Evanston, IL 60201-4897. The NMSC can be reached by phone at (847) 866-5100 or check their website at: http://www.nationalmerit.org/.

National Achievement Scholarship Program (Evanston, IL.)
This program is for outstanding African-American secondary students. The 1,500 finalists in this program compete for 700 scholarships (450 nonrenewable awards at $2,000 and 250 renewable awards between $250 and $2,000

Corporate Merit Scholarships
More than 1,500 renewable, need-based awards (between $250--$4,000) are given by over 400 corporations for employees' children, residents of corporate locales, or future majors in areas of corporate interest who are Merit Program finalists.

Examples of some national corporations that participate in the Corporate Merit Scholarship program or a general Merit Scholarship program for employees' children are: IBM, Westinghouse, General Mills, Food Fair, Coca Cola, State Farm, Firestone Tire, and the Ford Motor Company.