Scholarships may be reduced

Anticipating a $28 million cut in state funding for next year’s budget, UNM administrators discussed how it will affect National Merit Scholarship offers.

President David Schmidly said no decision or recommendation has been made, but UNM officials alerted the Division of Enrollment Management so it can plan to potentially scale back NMS offers to brace for the expected budget. He said final decisions about scholarship offers will be made no earlier than April.

“We have to manage within the resources we have, and in an uncertain resource environment where you don’t know for sure what your resources are, you’ve got to be prudent,” he said. “You’ve got to be practical, and that’s all we’re trying to do here.”

Offered scholarships will likely decrease according to budget projections, and Schmidly said cuts are being made in areas detailed in the President’s Strategic Advisory Team budget report, with the exception of scholarship funding. He said the University just isn’t adding to the fund like in years past.

In 2008, the administration stepped up scholarship efforts, granting National Scholars a full-ride scholarship to create an image of prestige to attract top students. Since then, National Scholars increased from 14 in 2007 to 132 in 2009, a University spokeswoman said.

Terry Babbitt, associate vice president for enrollment, said the decision was made before the recession was in full swing.

“Our quick and substantial success in recruiting top merit students is requiring us to make some adjustments that will result in some reductions of new student awards,” he said.

The projected shortfall will prevent the University from offering all incoming National Scholars a full-ride scholarship. In-state National Merit Scholars are guaranteed the scholarship and some out-of-state scholars will receive it. The University will not be able to grant National Hispanic, National African-American, National American Indian and National Achievement Scholars a full-ride scholarship, with the exception of finalists from each category, because they become automatically eligible for the National Merit Scholarship, Babbitt said.
These limitations have not stopped recruiters from trying to attract top students, and Schmidly said National Merit Scholars will make UNM a well-respected university.

“The better the students at the University, most people equate that with the reputation of the University, so the better the student body we can get here to study, then the better the University is, the better the diploma is and the better-off you are,” he said.

The same scholarship fund that supports financial awards for merit-based students contributes to aiding need-based students, Babbitt said. He said the administration will continue recruiting, but is discussing changes to the merit-based offer.

“Certainly, our commitment to recruiting top performers such as National Scholars is unwavering, so we will continue with this priority but with adjustments to maintain a balance of need-based and merit-based support,” he said.