LAT:U Cal Quits National Merit Program(relies on PSAT,few minority awards)

[DeepModem Mom]

UC Quits National Merit Program
The scholarship plan, based largely on PSAT scores, does not fairly assess students, officials say. Current awardees will still receive aid.
By Stuart Silverstein, Times Staff Writer


The University of California announced Wednesday that its campuses will stop participating in the National Merit Scholarship program, contending that the annual competition doesn't fairly assess academic talent.

The decision means that the six campuses that had been funding scholarships of up to $2,000 a year for National Merit finalists will channel the money into other student awards, starting with the fall 2006 freshman class.

The move is considered a blow to the 50-year-old National Merit program, which is partly funded by campuses and corporations. It annually names about 8,000 scholarship winners, many of whom are recruited as intensely as star athletes by universities around the country.

UC officials faulted the National Merit program's reliance on the PSAT as the initial screening filter for the 1.3 million high school juniors who take that practice version of the SAT college entrance exam each year....

***

The action by the UC campuses follows a 17-0 vote by UC faculty leaders late last month recommending withdrawal from the program. Along with faulting the reliance on the PSAT, faculty leaders noted that Latinos, African Americans and Native Americans accounted for only 3.2% of UC's National Merit scholarship winners; those groups make up about 19% of all UC undergraduates who receive any type of merit scholarships....


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-merit14jul14,0,672612.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[acmejack]

1. Whoa, that will be the beginning of the end

My niece won a natl merit scholarship. I was amazed at the schools which recruited her, the only school which rejected her was vassar (so what?)

[UCLA Dem]

2. Thats gonna hurt National Merit's prestige big time. I agree with it thou.