NORMAN — Coming from a small Michigan town by way of Lawrence, Kan., Kristina Buche wasn’t Sooner born or Sooner bred.

However, the recent University of Oklahoma graduate — one of about 200 National Merit Finalists wooed each year by the university’s National Merit Finalists scholarship package — is paying the state back for her largely Oklahoma-bought higher education.

Buche, a music education student at OU, is the new music teacher at Eisenhower Elementary, where she did a portion of her student teaching last year.

“It would have been really hard for me to find a job in Michigan back home at this point. With the economy, it’s hard for some schools to keep the music programs going,” Buche said as she took a break from hanging posters in her new classroom. “I felt the music programs would be safe here. This community has a strong emphasis in the arts and I don’t think that’s going to change.”

Do they take the money and run?

Whether founded in fact or not, there is a perception that through OU’s efforts to build up the university, Oklahoma pays to educate these scholars who then leave the state for jobs elsewhere.

The question is: Do these scholars plant more permanent roots within state borders, following a diploma largely supported financially with Oklahoma tax dollars, or do they leave?

The answer isn’t so easy.

It’s unclear whether OU’s efforts to attract some of the nation’s top scoring students — with a bounty of scholarship dollars — reaps a reward for Oklahoma when the college years have passed.

Beyond their years at the university, OU said it doesn’t maintain an official record of its National Merit Finalists — of which the school recently reported raking in a record of 221 in this year’s freshman class, maintaining its No. 1 national ranking in the number of freshman National Merit Scholars enrolled per capita among public universities.

“No, we don’t,” said LeeAnn Victery, director of National Scholars Programs at OU, of National Merit records following their Sooner education. “We really should do a better job of that.”

And OU isn’t alone. Oklahoma State University — which has 29 nonresident and 65 resident National Merit Finalists enrolled this fall — doesn’t keep a tally of where the scholars venture after graduation.

Victery said the only tracking OU has is self-reported by students, mainly during conversations when they come into the National Scholars Office.

“I don’t get that sense,” Victery said of students going out-of-state after graduation. “Why wouldn’t we want to attract the best to come to our school and then go on to be good citizens of the state? …

“But I don’t have the numbers to back that up,” Victery said of scholars’ whereabouts after graduation.

Norman Public Schools’ Buche said among her friends, she thinks it’s a mix, noting that graduate work takes some National Merit Scholars away from Oklahoma.

Following the money at OU and beyond

According to the OU National Scholars website, non-resident scholarship dollars total $87,000 for five years, plus a $1,500 allowance for a laptop and $1,500 stipend to study abroad.

Residents receive $45,000, which is less because of the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition, along with the laptop and study abroad stipends.

And still, Victery said this doesn’t carry the full cost of an OU education.

The website states resident out-of-pocket expenses range from $5,000 to $6,000 per year and $6,500 to $7,500 for non-residents.

Comparatively, non-resident scholarships for National Merit are estimated at $99,050 at OSU and $55,000 at Texas A&M University, but their scholar enrollment numbers are less.

The University of Texas at Austin recently discontinued offering institutional scholarships to new students solely based on their National Merit standing, according to the university’s website.

According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s latest annual report, the University of Texas at Austin awarded scholarships in 2009 to 245 finalists; Texas A&M at College Station gave 189; OU awarded 196 and OSU gave 11.

How Oklahoma won then and now

“It was really National Merit,” said Buche of her reason for opting to color herself crimson and cream, adding that before learning of her finalist standing her college search didn’t extend outside Michigan.

Buche said she received two National Merit scholarship offers, but OU was the only school that still would allow her to audition for the music program, since it was now February.

“Plus, I’ve really grown to love the community. I just really enjoy being here,” Buche said of remaining in Oklahoma. “But it really depends on where the jobs are, especially right now and especially with education. And it was Oklahoma that offered me a job.”

Nanette Light 366-3541 nlight@normantranscript.com