MISSOULA - High school seniors graduating next May will have a tougher time getting scholarships at the University of Montana because of the uncertain economy.

Mick Hanson, financial aid director at UM, said seniors couldn't pick a worse time to graduate.

''We hope we won't have to reduce the number of scholarships very much,'' Hanson said.

The UM Foundation launched a campaign recently to raise $1.2 million to try to make sure that a large number of scholarships won't disappear next fall. Officials say 1,000 UM students are at risk of losing scholarships in the 2009-2010 school year.

Logan Bloom of Stevensville, a second-year business student at UM, is among the scholarship students facing that uncertain future. He maintains a 3.7 grade-point average to keep his academic scholarship, which covers the cost of tuition.

Bloom, 20, said he assumed when he started at UM that as long as he worked hard and maintained good grades that the four-year renewable scholarship would always be available.

''I've never thought about losing my scholarship because there's not enough money,'' Bloom said.

Many other students are facing the same prospect. The UM Foundation says 375 of its 535 endowed scholarships are in trouble.

Mark Armstrong, director of marketing and communications at the UM Foundation, said most of the endowed, private scholarships range from $500 to $2,000 a semester. Tuition cost for an in-state student is about $5,000 annually.

University officials will look at the foundation's return on its investments at the end of January to determine how many scholarships will be available to students in the fall of 2009. They said the system needs a quick influx of cash.

Debbie Doyle McWhinney, CEO and president of the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, is co-chairwoman of the fundraising effort called ''1,000 Promises to Keep.'' She said she's optimistic that the national financial situation can't get much worse.

''All of the bad news has been priced into the market,'' McWhinney said.

''This is too many kids not to do something,'' McWhinney said. ''It'll certainly be a challenge, but UM donors are so generous and committed to students who go there. This is a unique situation and we want to keep these kids in school.''

Hanson said 64 percent of the $100 million offered in financial assistance to UM students annually comes through loans. He said there still would be lots of financial assistance available to students even if every scholarship program at UM is lost.

In addition, Hanson said the foundation has increased the number of scholarships available to students over the past 10 years. Even if some fail, he said it's likely there will still be more than there were a decade ago.

The UM Foundation's fundraiser will run through the end of January. The foundation will notify students in April whether their scholarships will still be available for the fall semester.