UC system pulls plug on National Merit Scholarships.Six University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). campuses dealt a blow to the National Merit Scholarship program The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic scholarship competition for recognition and college scholarships administered by National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organization. The program began in 1955. in July when its chancellors and Academic Council decided to purl out of the program. The $735,000 that UC paid to sponsor the national program for the 2004-05 academic year will be forded into UC's own scholarship funds, notes Provost M.R.C. Greenwood. UC's academic readers are critical of the program's reliance on PSAT PSAT Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test PSAT Puget Sound Action Team PSAT Particulate Source Apportionment Technology PSAT Predicted Site Acquisition Table PSAT Princeton South Asian Theatrics PSAT Pacific Situation Assessment Team (DoD) scores--the preliminary tests taken by high school juniors--to determine scholarship selection. A UC statement charges that "using the PSAT exam alone" to select students eligible for scholarship money places too much emphasis on testing and not enough on other factors. Worthy students are being left out. As a result of the reliance on PSAT scores, only 3 percent of 8,000 annual Merit Scholarship winners are black, Latino or Native American, UC officials allege. Last year, 600 UC students received National Merit scholarships. Awards usually range from $500 to $2,000. The UC campuses dropping out of the program are UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX , San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. , Irvine, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, city, United States Santa Cruz (săn`tə kr  z), city (1990 pop. 49,040), seat of Santa Cruz co., W Calif., on the north shore of Monterey Bay; inc. 1866. , Santa Barbara, and Davis. UC Berkeley, Merced, and Riverside were not participating in the program. A director for the nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corporation National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. NMSC conducts two annual competitions for recognition and scholarships--the National Merit Scholarship Program, which is open to all counters UC's claims. PSAT scores are used to screen candidates, but academic records, principals' recommendations, and school and community activities are also considered, insists Elaine Detweiler, public information director. At this point, the National Merit Scholarship program is not saying whether it will change its pre-screening and selection processes. But UC's authority cannot be ignored. In 2002, UC's then--President Richard Atkinson criticized The College Board's SAT test, saying that it did not adequately measure high school learning. He threatened to drop SAT scores from UC's admissions process. Eventually The College Board re-wrote the test, adding an essay-writing section. For now Detweiler simply says, "We are disappointed they decided to withdraw." |
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