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patsmom
Member
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 165 |
| Mana: |    |
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Posted: Mon Jul 3rd, 2006 06:20 pm |
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I just happened across this entry on Wikipedia regarding the University of Florida:
"The university recently determined that National Merit Scholars are burdensome to UF's image as a center of academic excellence. Perhaps that explains why National Merit Scholars, as of the Fall 2007 term, are no longer being offered a competitive academic scholarship upon enrolling at UF. In past years, the university heavily recruited National Merit Scholars by offering $5500 per academic year in scholarships, as well as a single $2000 research stipend for summer study. That scholarship package has now been reduced to $1000 per year plus a single $1000 research stipend.
Since other universities in the Florida public education system offer far better deals to National Merit Scholars (notably University of South Florida in Tampa, which offers National Merit Scholars $10,000 per academic year), this drastic reduction of financial incentives for top students to attend the University of Florida is puzzling. It is speculated by some that UF's administration prefers to ride the wave of popularity brought on by recent athletic success, focusing on building a reputation as a jock school rather than a research school."
Wow! So I went searching on UF's website for more information and all I could find was this:
"The University of Florida participates in the National Merit Scholarship Program and guarantees that all students who qualify as finalists and name the University of Florida as their college of first choice will receive a substantial financial award. National Merit Scholarship finalists work with the director of the Honors Program to establish the academic year and area in which they will participate. In addition, all out-of-state finalists who name UF as their college of first choice will have their out-of-state fees waived."
Maybe I'm late to the party but I didn't know anything about this change in practice, and my own son is entering his 3rd year of enjoying a UF National Merit finalist scholarship! What really shocks me is the statement that UF finds its National Merit scholars "burdensome" to its image. With Wikipedia I guess you never know where these statements originate, but still!
Has anyone here heard anything about this?
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DesperateDad
Member
| Joined: | Tue Mar 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 849 |
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Posted: Mon Jul 3rd, 2006 06:48 pm |
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dunno much about UF, but found this article worth a read.
http://www.highereducation.org/crosstalk/ct0205/news0205-scholarship.shtml
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patsmom
Member
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 165 |
| Mana: | |
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Posted: Tue Jul 4th, 2006 11:41 pm |
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I just received confirmation that the article is true - UF is reducing its award to NM scholars from $5500 per year + $2000 additiona stipend for research or study abroad to $1000 per year + $1000 additional stipend. Or looked at another way, that's down from a total of $24,000 to just $5,000. Wow 
My S's scholarship won't be affected because he has a contract with UF, but the class of 2011 will fall under the new rules.
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