Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, December 6, 1999
Academic all-stars get automatic housing bids
Continued from page 1A
filled more than one-third of the 165 spots.
inked more than one-third of the 165 spots.
The savings of living in the scholarship halls are significant. Residents of seven of the nine halls will pay $2,717 to live there this year, including meals. That's more than $1,200 less than double occupancy rooms in most of the residence halls and more than $2,100 less than living in the recently remodeled Templin and Lewis Halls. Watkins Scholarship Hall and Miller cost $725 a year, excluding food.
There consistently are more applicants than spaces available in the halls, said Ken Stoner, director of student housing, and it's been that way for a long time.
What's different now is that the University's drive to increase the number of National Merit Scholars in the past five years drastically has increased the number of merit scholars at the University and, consequently, in the scholarship halls.
Stoner said the policy of letting merit scholars have the first choice in housing had been around for many years and applied to all forms of housing.
"Merit scholarls can choose wherever they want to live, not just in school halls." Stoner said. "A lot of people happen to choose the schall halls. It's a popular option."
So popular, in fact, that a majority of the new students in some of the halls this year were merit scholars.
"Actually, I'm surprised that even more merit scholars don't live in the scholarship halls," said Dylan Brooks, a Topeka freshman and merit scholar who lives in Pearson Scholarship Hall. "It seemed obvious to me that I would want to live in a
scholarship hall from the beginning."
Katie Dilks, an Ames, Iowa, freshman and merit scholar who lives in Douthart Scholarship Hall, agreed.
Assessing need
"I've done summer programs and things where I've lived in dorms before," she said. "You don't get to know people there, but the people here are open and friendly. Everybody always has their doors open all the time."
Assessing need But that's only for those who get in.
Rush and others say the number of students with significant financial need who gain entrance to the halls is becoming disturbingly low because merit scholars tend to have little or no financial need. The cost of their education generally is covered by scholarships from the University.
"I think there are a lot of people here who have a lot of money." Moses said.
There are cases in which merit scholars admit having money left after all their expenses are met. Previous published reports have documented some merit scholars who paid for everything from computers to ski trips with excess cash they received from scholarships.
However, Stoner said the increase in the number of merit scholars was too small to have much impact on the scholarship halls.
"I don't see it as an issue of National Merit Scholars crowding out people," Stoner said. "Let's say that there are 20 more incoming merit scholars than there were a few years ago. In the scheme of things, is that really big? It seems that merit scholars get a lot of press. I don't know that their impact is really that big."
In addition, Amini Scholarship Hall
opened in 1992, allowing space for 50 more men in the system. Stoner said that increase practically would negate any effects of additional merit scholars.
Jennifer Wamelink, assistant director of student housing who oversees the scholarship halls, said she saw little impact from the increase in merit scholars.
"I don't think it has a detrimental effect on the scholarship halls," Wamelink said.
She said the balance of four factors that the scholarship halls look for in applicants — acad
emile merit, financial need, strong essays and strong references — was as strong as ever.
"I don't think a strong candidate with all those components would have any trouble getting in," she said. "All four components are important."
Preserving principles
Critics of the merit scholars' automatic bid into the halls also contend that giving academic all-stars an automatic room assignment is not in keeping with the principles the scholarship halls were founded upon.
"The original mission of Battenfeld was to house men of high ability that otherwise would not be able to go to college," Rush said. Historical records tend to confirm Rush's theory.
A Feb. 23, 1935 article in the Kansas City Star mentioned the importance placed on serving needy women by Elizabeth Watkins, who donated the money to build Watkins and Miller halls. Every applicant had to show some indication of her need, the article said, including having a community banker certify her financial needs.
More recently, the 1967-68 University of Kansas Catalog also indicated that need was a central factor in admissions to the halls.
"Selected men who need financial assistance may live in one of five scholarship halls which have been given to the University," the guide states.
Tim Miller, chairman of the religious studies department, was a member of Stephenson Scholarship Hall in 1964.
"The general idea was that everyone there had at least some financial need." Miller said. "It's not like everyone there was poverty stricken, though."
But, Miller said, the '60s seemed to be a situation much different from that of today.
Bob Basow, associate professor of journalism who lived in Battenfield from 1963 to 1966, said comparisons with the past weren't valid because the definition of financial need had changed so much in the intervening decades.
"Need then was very different than need now," Basow said. "Then, you could have a part-time job while you were in school and work 12 weeks in the summer — the summers were longer back then — and pretty much pay for school. Now, it's difficult to work your way through school, yet college is more accessible to more people. We're playing with a whole different set of circumstances."
When Stoner looks at the history, he sees nothing to be concerned about. Rather, he said, history shows that although the scholarship halls go through cycles of placing different priorities on different things,
the four core principals of admission remain the same.
"I think the thing I see is, students have always been selected on a combination of four things, and one of them is academic aptitude," he said. "Maybe it's changed a little towards academics. Institutions evolve each year. But on the whole, I think the system has pretty much stayed with the four constants."
Battenfeld Scholarship Hall, where Eric Rush, Topeka junior, lives, has won many trophies. Rush is proud of the history of his scholarship hall, but he is concerned that the people who need the halls most financially aren't getting an opportunity to live in them.
Getting in
Getting in
That doesn't change the negative perceptions surrounding some of the
University's brightest students. Many say they believe it's unfair for merit scholars to receive an automatic housing bid.
"They already get $5,000 from the University," said Julia Glimore, Clay Center junior and a member of the All Scholarship Hall Council who lives in Douthart Scholarship Hall. "Why should they get another $1,000 off?"
She also says that because merit scholars aren't financially forced into living in the halls as some students are, they don't always fulfill their duties in the halls. Part of living in the halls includes jobs such as cooking and cleaning that everyone must perform a few hours each week.
"It it seems like people who are from more financially constrained backgrounds are usually harder worked." Gilmore said. "The halls stay cleaner, and they work together better. Not that merit scholars can't do that, but, in general, it seems that way."
Not everybody is ready to indict the merit scholars. Some students said merit scholars deserved to be in the halls.
"Personally, I have no problems living in a hall with half the people being National Merit Scholars," said Aaron Akins, an Olathe senior who lives in Battenfeld and is not a merit scholar. "They're guys just like everybody else."
Even Rush and Gilmore agree that merit scholars have a place in the scholarship halls — it just shouldn't be a guaranteed place.
Solving the problem
Solving the problem For Hemenway and Stoner, the solution o the controversy is simple.
"I think the answer is to build more
scholarship halls." Hemenway said. "We'd like to offer more scholarship hall opportunities. But I don't think we'll ever be in a situation where we meet the demand."
Construction has begun on Margaret Amini Scholarship Hall, which will house 50 women when it opens next fall.
Stoner said plans to raise money for two more scholarships halls also were included in the University's upcoming capital campaign.
Rush said that new halls could alleviate the problem in the long run, but he thought another shorter-term solution was needed.
Rush and the All Scholarship Hall Council are eyeing a plan that would change admissions criteria for the scholarship halls. Under the plan, merit scholars no longer would receive automatic entry but would have points added to their score for their merit scholar status. In addition, more emphasis could be placed on financial need.
Gilmore said the council would consider the plan more seriously next semester.
However, Rush said the council could do little about the situation without action on the part of the administration.
Hemenway said he believed automatic entry was a necessary tool for the University in pursuing merit scholars.
"It's a recruitment tool for National Merits in the same way that Jayhawker Towers is good for recruiting athletes," Hemenway said. "Because we do have scholarship halls, it's one of the things that makes up for the fact we can offer as much money as other schools. If that's one of the things that works to tip the balance in favor of KU, it's appropriate that we use it."
— Edited by Kelly Clasen
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*Based on survey responses from 1,621 KU students. Survey administered by the KU Office of Institutional Research & Planning (1999)