Although the scholarship pool for Miss Mississippi contestants was lower this year, the amount actually claimed may be the same – or higher.

&#8220For at least the past 10 years, we’ve always ranked first in cash scholarships,” said Dr. W. Briggs Hopson, chairman of the board of trustees for the pageant that has four days of competition here each July.

There is a wide state-to-state disparity in what are called &#8220in-kind” offers, which include pledges of financial aid that schools make if contestants meet other criteria and enroll.

This year’s production ended Saturday night at the Vicksburg Convention Center with Taryn Foshee, a Byram native who grew up in Clinton, winning the 2006 crown.

State pageants are ranked in January by how much they offer contestants.

By the books, there was a drop from $1.3 million in 2005 to about $725,000 available this year in the Miss Mississippi competition. But most of that was in in-kind offers.

For example, the largest drop here was in the amount offered by the University of West Alabama, a 1,600-student state school in Livingston. For 2005, the school’s potential offer was $640,000 if all eligible contestants enrolled there. This year, the school’s offer fell to $32,000 – a four-year scholarship to Miss Mississippi worth $24,000 and four $2,000 scholarships to the top runners-up.

Cash awarded to Miss Mississippi contestants this year totaled $118,100.

The awards come &#8220from the generosity of the people of Vicksburg, who make available up to 90 percent of that total,” Hopson said.

The additional $606,816 in in-kind offers was conditional, but still very much appreciated, Hopson said.

To compare Mississippi with other states this year, South Carolina offered $6.8 million in in-kind aid to contestants, Louisiana offered about $45,000 and Virginia offered $39,500, based on figures available on pageant Web sites. The in-kind amounts vary widely, Hopson said, due to offers state institutions and others are allowed to make.

The scholarships given to contestants by the pageant board are based on the patron program of cash donations made from various contributors such as businesses or individual families.

&#8220That’s how we determine how much we can give to each of the contestants and the runners-up,” Blackledge said. &#8220That, too, fluctuates from year to year.”

Some changes in cash scholarships given this year included the $1,300 given to each of the 32 non-finalist contestants. Last year, the Miss Mississippi Corporation, the first in the nation to give all contestants cash awards, gave $1,400 to each non-finalist. Six $700 non-finalist talent award scholarships were given this year, down from $800 last year. The preliminary cash awards also went down this year from $400 for talent and $300 for swimwear to $300 for talent and $200 for swimwear.

Other changes include in-kind scholarships from Belhaven College, whose offer jumped from $69,000 last year to $92,644 this year and Coahoma Community College, whose offer jumped from $9,844 last year to $16,314 this year.