National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®) announced over 750 additional winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by colleges and universities.

These Merit scholar designees join more than 2,500 other college-sponsored award recipients who were announced in June.

Among those was Lila Mercer of La Cañada Flintridge who attended La Cañada High School and whose probable career field is healthcare. Mercer received the National Merit Occidental College Scholarship. Occidental (Oxy) is a private, liberal arts college in Los Angeles. Two thousand students from 48 states and 65 countries occupy the campus, which is a close-knit, residential community; 85% of students live on-campus all four years. 

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution.

College-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship. This year, 138 colleges and universities are sponsoring more than 3,250 Merit Scholarship

awards. Sponsor colleges include 69 private and 69 public institutions located in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

This is the last group of National Merit Scholar designees to be announced in 2026 by National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®). In three earlier releases, NMSC announced winners of corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards, National Merit® $2500 scholarship awards, and the first group of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.

This final group of winners brings the number of 2026 National Merit Scholars to about 6,500.