JACOB KONST/Arizona Daily Wildcat Mary Pankratz, a molecular and cellular biology senior, uses a computer at the Honors College.

In an effort to outshine ASU and peer institutions in the fight over National Merit Scholars, the Honors College has stepped up recruitment efforts.

The effort, which includes sending letters from honors students to prospective students, helped more than double the number of out-of-state National Merit Scholars who came to the UA this year.

The Honors College recruited 20 out-of-state National Merit Scholars this year compared to 8 from last year.

The college offered a more generous scholarship to out-of-state students, which is one of the reasons why enrollment went up, said Stephanie Adamson, assistant director for recruitment and outreach at the Honors College.

Patricia MacCorquodale, dean of the Honors College, said 50 awards were offered last year to out-of-state students, and there were 200 awards offered this year.

"I think it was definitely a really strong applicant pool. There were more scholarship awards for out-of-state students," Adamson said. "We did really well with the top 1 and 2 percent of in-state high school students and national merit recruitment."

The amount of financial aid also increased. Last year out-of-state students could receive a waiver that eliminated the discrepancy between in- and out-of-state tuition. This year they received a full tuition waiver plus $2,000.

"Our goal was not to increase class size. Our goal was to increase quality. We dramatically surpassed our goal," Adamson said.

Andrew Wallis, a computer science freshman from Oregon, said he would not have come to the UA if he had not received a tuition reduction from the Honors College.

However, there are other students who chose the college even without a financial incentive.

Brendan Blades, a history sophomore from Washington, said he came to the UA because "it was the best school (he) could afford." He is not receiving any aid from the university.

MacCorquodale said the Honors College saw an increase in freshman enrollment, from 815 students last year to 1,028 students this year. She said reasons for this are due to the economy and the war in Iraq, also, students did not want to go to college far away from home.

Adamson also said the increase might have been related to recent political events.

"The economy and war really spooked students," Adamson said.

Among new honors students, the mean ACT score rose a 10th of a point to 27.9 this year, while the mean SAT score increased by three points, bringing it to 1270.

The percentage of in-state students fell from 87.2

percent to 81.7 percent, but the number of freshmen who graduated in the top 1 percent of their high school class increased by 23 percent.

Rick Kroc, director of the office of enrollment research, attributed the increased honors enrollment in part to the increased financial aid available as a result of the tuition increase imposed last year.

President Peter Likins put $14 million of the revenue generated by the tuition increase toward financial aid.

"I think there was more financial aid for both needy and meritorious students," Kroc said.

Kroc said he was also aware of the Honors College's attempt to recruit the out-of-state students.

"Recruitment efforts at the Honors College were significant as well," he said.

The Honors College wants to help the university recruit the top students in Arizona.

"We definitely want to continue helping the UA remain the choice for Arizona's best and brightest," Adamson said.