Roy Summerford (summero@mail.auburn.edu)

AUBURN WINNING ON ROAD, GAINING SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS

AUBURN -- Auburn University is winning on the road against its cross-state rival, racing past the University of Alabama for the third year in a row in the sale of collegiate automobile license plates.

Auburn added $803,000 to its "License to Learn" scholarship fund for the first 10 months of this fiscal year, compared to $681,000 to UA for sales of its license plates, says Mike Jernigan, who leads the marketing effort for AU's program. Jernigan ci ted data from the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

AU's License to Learn scholarship endowment surpassed the $4 million mark in June and holds a $200,000 lead over UA in total sales of the plates.

Alabama motor vehicle owners are purchasing or renewing about 1,600 Auburn vanity tags a month through their county probate judges, with proceeds from the $50 tags going to support the AU License to Learn scholarship program.

AU's interest from the endowment is divided between scholarships for Auburn and AU at Montgomery students and reinvestment to keep the endowment ahead of inflation.

Twenty-three AU students and 10 AUM students last year received scholarships financed by the License to Learn Endowment. The number has grown from three AU scholarships the first year following enactment of the collegiate tag law by the Alabama Legi slature in 1988.

"Things have really grown over the years," says AU Treasurer Charles Bruce. "This year, as expected, sales are starting to level off at a sustainable high level."

Statewide, sales of AU and UA vanity tags account for 80 percent of the $10.1 million total for all Alabama colleges and universities since 1988. For the fiscal year as of July 31, sales of $1.8 million had been reported for 24 colleges and universit ies in Alabama.

CONTACT: Jernigan, 844-1163