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Wednesday, Aug. 19, 1987/University Daily Kansan
Needy scholars' aid affected by efforts to stop 'brain drain
By LIZA VAN MOL Special to the Kansan
The University is shifting scholarship money to attract academic high achievers, leaving less for needy scholars who traditionally have qualified for awards.
Del Shankel, special counselor to the Chancellor, said the change in priorities was distressing but necessary because of legislative pressure to stop the state's "brain drain" and because of competition from other universities for top scholars.
Brain drain refers to the problem of the state's best high school students leaving the state for college or careers.
"It's a dilemma," Shankel said, who was acting executive vice chancellor until the end of the summer semester.
"Philosophically," he said, "we'd like to be able to give needy students all the aid they need, but the pressure to be at least competitive in our honors program and in combating the brain drain is there. We need good students to provide some of the leaven for the student body."
The change in priorities comes at a time when University officials are reviewing KU's long-held commitment to open admissions.
One student said he thought the change might make KU elitist and insensitive to students who both deserve and need an education.
"I think it's socially unfair and terribly irresponsible of the University not to offer all people an equal opportunity to attend the college," Foubert said. "They've made the merit funds greater because it looks good. I find it repugnant to see the attitude, 'We're gonna go for the brains.'"
The student, Michael Foubert, a member of the Student Senate Executive Committee and a National Merit Scholar, said he was concerned that financially needy high school students may be victims of circumstance, unable to earn top grades not because they lacked ability but because of their impoverished backgrounds.
Foubert said that if he were starting his student career over, he would not choose KU, because doing so
would mean preferential treatment for him over others who may be just as deserving. Foubert won and accepted a National Merit scholarship for his undergraduate education at Gonzaga University, a private Jesuit college in Spokane, Wash.
The result of increasing awards to high achievers who do not document financial need is that less money will be available for students who do have financial need. The cut in funds available to the scholarship winners who have serious financial needs in the 1987-88 school year could range between $75,000 and $180,000, said Jerry Rogers, director of student financial aid.
Shankel said he thought that in one way or another as many as 150 students could be affected.
Robers said last spring that he had about $355,000 to allocate for scholarships. Of that amount, about $600,000 came from unrestricted endowment
Beginning this semester, the top award for a scholar with great financial need is $1,000, down $600 from the last school year. Rogers said that the
average financial need last year for all students was $3,606, and that he expected a similar need, adjusted for inflation, this coming school year.
The high-achiever group that will now get priority includes National Merit scholars. The University awards $300 to each semi-finalist who chooses to attend KU. This figure will not be increased. In the past, if scholars became National Merit finalists and chose to come to KU, they would receive an additional $500. This year the $500 award will be increased to $1.300.
Shankel and Rogers each said that the competition among colleges and universities to recruit top scholars is becoming stronger every year. Schools are trying to lure top scholars to preserve their reputation and prestige.
Sally Bryant, assistant to the dean of educational services, said, "One way of identifying quality at a University is by counting the number of outstanding scholars. But we're not on the bandwagon leading that parade. The merit scholarship program has always been adequate, but modest."
Profits from land owned by the Kansas University Endowment Association is the main source for these scholarships. These profits have decreased over the past few years, but George Steward, Endowment Association treasurer, was unable to give exact figures.
Shankel said, "A lot of the Endowment Association's flexible money comes from earnings on some land they own which is used for growing wheat and producing oil and gas. Agricultural profits are down, and oil and gas prices have decreased."
Flexible money is undesignated money that can be used for a variety of needs, such as scholarships, equipment and building repairs. Chancellor Gene A. Budig makes recommendations to the Endowment Association about the areas of greatest need and how much money should go to those areas. In the past few years, Budig has given more emphasis to scholarship funds, Shankel said.
But Rogers said the money was going more to talented students than
needy ones. "The funds for needed scholarships are down anyway, and this shift just makes it worse. I already see the necessity of raising the GPA to 3.25 from 3.1 to narrow the field of eligible students."
The University decided earlier this summer to offer smaller-sized awards and supplement them with other forms of financial aid, such as guaranteed student loans and college work-study. Rogers said.
Shankel said, "The University has taken the cue, or been forced to do so by other universities and by the legislators.
"We'd like to be attractive to a lot of good students. The problem is to stay competitive with other state and regional universities. If the amount awarded isn't equal to that of what other universities are offering them, they probably won't come here, even if they should for the academic program.
"We still don't offer the magnitude that other universities offer, but we have increased it."
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