BEGGAR-THY-NEIGHBOR. Your guidance counselor tells you one of the old Wisconsin State University System campuses is just right for your needs (and they're all pretty this time of year). If you live in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska and North Dakota, the University of Wisconsin System has such a deal for you. Less well known is that Wisconsin residents are eligible for similar deals elsewhere.

Wisconsin students, in turn, can receive similar discounts at a variety of colleges and universities in the other states, including the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska. But if they don't know that, there's a reason: No one told them.

The UW System administrator who is coordinating the program said he has done no advertising for Wisconsin students out of fear of "a brain drain" from the state. The system's goal, he said, is to attract non-resident students to Wisconsin.

"This program has the potential to be a brain gain," said Lynn Paulson, the system's assistant vice president for budget and planning.

"It does give students from Wisconsin discounts at other states, but we want to keep as many as we can."

Paulson said the system was required to send brochures about the discounts to high school guidance counselors across the state. But a guidance counselor at Racine Case High School said her school never got one.

"We received nothing," said Jennifer Muffick. "We had no idea that it was an option for our students.

The option includes bargain prices at the pretend Big Red in Lincoln and at the University of Kansas, flagship campuses both, as well as six Michigan campuses that the article refers to as "not especially prestigious." Hello Mid-American??