UC system pulls plug on National Merit Scholarships

University Business, August, 2005 by Jean Marie Angelo

Six University of California campuses dealt a blow to the National Merit Scholarship program 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 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, San Diego, Irvine, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and Davis. UC Berkeley, Merced, and Riverside were not participating in the program.

A director for the nonprofit National Merit Scholarship Corporation 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."