Is the KU number such a big drop because they are including those 5th and 6th year undergrads? If even a few who don’t finish in 4 years and thus use up the scholarship are included, that would cause the number of undergrads receiving merit to fall.
One DD has a merit scholarship that runs for 8 consecutive semesters. She asked if she could take a semester off to do an internship (not through the school) and they said that they’d consider it, but it is not automatic. Other daughter is an engineer and her scholarship doesn’t work in the summer, so if she needs to go an extra semester or take extra classes, it’s on us to pay. She’d still be an undergrad, so I assume she’d be included in the stats.