Six University of California chancellors unanimously decided on
Wednesday to end their campuses’ participation in the
National Merit Scholarship Program, a move they believe will result
in a fairer evaluation of all students for other merit-based
scholarships and a more level playing field on which
underrepresented and low-income students can compete.
Starting in fall 2006, UCLA, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego,
UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz will redirect the money once
provided for National Merit Scholarships to fund other merit-based
scholarships such as the Regents Scholarship Program and the
campus-based Chancellor’s Scholarship Programs, said Ravi
Poorsina, a spokeswoman for the UC, in a press release.
UC Berkeley, UC Merced and UC Riverside currently do not fund
National Merit Scholarships.
The decision was made following a recommendation by the Academic
Council of the UC, challenging the use of the PSAT as the
preliminary eliminator of students, rather than part of a
comprehensive evaluation of all PSAT participants.
The chancellors concurred with the Academic Council’s
resolution that the definition of merit established by the
practices of the National Merit selection process is incongruent
with that defined by the admissions process of the UC.
“This decision in no way indicates that we don’t
value academic merit at the University of California. The issue is
how academic merit is defined,” said UC Provost MRC
Greenwood, the highest ranking academic officer in the UC
system.
In contrast with UC’s comprehensive review admissions
process, which weighs test scores against other aspects of
prospective students, such as personal and academic
accomplishments, the National Merit Scholarship is awarded to
students who complete a rigorous selection process, only after 97
percent of the applicant pool is filtered out due to their scores
on the PSAT.
Some say the test unintentionally prevents minorities and
low-income students from winning more scholarships.
UC faculty have questioned the scholarships, saying the PSAT
wasn’t designed to be used as a cutoff tool and deeming the
selection process unfair to minority and low-income students, who
average lower scores than whites on standardized tests.
Last year, about 0.3 percent of the UC’s 158,000
undergraduates won UC-funded National Merit Scholarships, totaling
$735,000. Asians received 45 percent of the awards, whites got 40
percent, Hispanics won 2 percent and blacks won 1 percent.
Greenwood said the monetary figure is small compared with the
$62 million a year spent on merit-based scholarships.
The UC’s exit from the scholarship program only affects
National Merit Scholarships funded directly by the university.
National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s and corporate
sponsors’ scholarships will not be affected.
Also, those scholarships already awarded, including those to
this year’s incoming freshmen, will be in effect until they
are completely disbursed.
With reports from Bruin wire services.