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Texas Christian and Southern Metho
dist universities compete in the area.
Often, the choice comes down to
money, Schmidt said. UNL offers
$750 to every merit scholar finalist
it attracts, provided by funds from
the NU Foundation. Students who
need more can get up to $2,000
based on need.
Schmidt says she wants to in
crease the $750 to $1,000 for each
student to be more competitive with
other schools.
Money apparently makes a dif
ference. Elizabeth Beck of Iowa
State University's admissions office
said its number of merit scholars
was down last year, partly because
UNL's $750 is more competitive
than its base scholarship of $500.
There are three types of merit
scholarships: those sponsored by
universities, corporations and nat
ional merit-sponsored $2,000 awards
funded by the NM agency.
The economic situation for the
entire state of Nebraska also plays a
.role in merit scholar recruiting,
Schmidt and other high school
counselors say.
"1 think they read headlines,"
Schmidt said. "They have lots of
options. They don't get Iowa papers
so they don't realize other states"
also are having financial problems,"
she said.
Gov. Bob Kerrey had threatened
to cut nearly $3. 1 million from the
university budget a move that
was heavily carried in the media.
But the Legislature overrode his
decision last week.
Marion Schute of Grand Island
Central High School said some stu
dents think "Why should I stay,"
partly because of the budget prob
lems at UNL.
And there are those scholars who
choose other universities simply for
a change of setting.
"Wc can be a lot of things but we
can't bean out-of-state institution,"
Schmidt said. "The college in your
own backyard never seems as pres
tigious. Stan Maliscewski of the Omaha
Central High School guidance con
trol office agrees.
"It sounds more prestigious to go
far away," he said. "The further, the
more prestigious."
Nebraska loses several scholars
to southern states, Schmidt said.
The weather is nicer, and when you
couple that with a strong faculty
and academic programs, it looks
appealing to many merit scholars.
Nebraska loses few merit scholars
to South or North Dakota and
Minnesota, she said. In contrast,
several Nebraska high school seniors
send their ACT scores to southern
universities like Arizona State.
Some merit scholars, however,
decide to brave the cold and attend
UNL if it has a strong program that
interests them, said Maliscewski and
Betty Stephens of Scottsbluff High
School's counseling center. Exam
ples of strong UNL programs that
attract merit scholars include jour
nalism, physics, and engineering,
counselors said.'
Rankings of the top 40 U.S. uni
versities in terms of freshman merit
scholar enrollment range from Har
vard to Michigan State to the Uni
versity of Iowa.
In 1984, Nebraska attracted 28
scholars; KU, 33; Missouri, 35;
OSU, 13 and Colorado 10.
But whether Nebraska can in
crease its number of merit scholars
isn't known. Maliscewski of Omaha
Central said only one of his nine
merit scholars this year has decided
to attend UNL. Marion Schute of
Grand Island Central High School
said the number of his students
choosing out-of-state schools has
been increasing over the last few
years.
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Schmidt
Schmidt said Nebraska will con
tinue to recruit heavily in Nebraska.
The state's average ACT score of 2 1
shows Nebraska has a fair share of
scholars, she said. National ACT
average score is 17.
But Schmidt said her staff will
continue to try and attract out-of-state
students to Nebraska as well.
UNL has traveled to Denver to
recruit and also wants to start in St.
Louis, Kansas City, Mo., and Wich
ita, Kan., she said.
Last year's UNL merit scholar
classes had one person out of state.
Two out-of-state students enrolled
the year before that.