The University of Nebraska's cheerleaders will again be barred from performing acrobatic stunts, and members of the squad will lose their textbook scholarships and food allowances next year.

Members of the cheerleading squad say they are disappointed by the changes and upset that they found out about them through a Nebraska Athletic Department Web site.

"It's just, we don't get answers, we don't get answers," said Evan Edwards, a freshman cheerleader from Lincoln. "We're ground-bound really without explanation. The Husker tradition is just slipping slowly and slowly away."

The stunts cheerleaders perform have been a concern at NU since 1996, when Tracy Jensen was paralyzed in an accident during cheer practice. The university paid Jensen a $2.1 million settlement.

In 2002, Nebraska did away with most stunting, including basket tosses, pyramids and tumbling. But a year later new Athletic Director Steve Pederson brought back two-person lifts, and cheerleaders had hoped he would further ease restrictions if they followed all safety regulations.

The cheerleaders said they found out about the latest changes when they logged onto a Web site to get information about tryouts for next year's squad. They learned the two-person stunts the squad had been doing since 2003 will be gone, and cheerleaders will lose their textbook scholarships and food allowances -- worth about $2,000 per cheerleader.

The Athletic Department said safety concerns are the reason for prohibiting stunting. It also said that starting next year, each cheerleader's scholarship stipend will rise from $500 to $600 per semester.

Cheerleaders also are entitled to free uniforms, warm-up clothes and Adidas apparel just like other Nebraska athletes.

Athletic Department spokeswoman Chris Anderson said that benefit package -- even with the loss of funds for textbooks and food -- remains competitive. She said the changes were made after athletics officials reviewed the squad's budget and size and researched cheerleading benefit packages at other schools.

"We still feel what we're offering is a great, fair amount," she said. "And it wasn't something we took lightly."

Anderson also said NU officials tried to call a meeting with cheerleading captains to tell them about next year's changes, but only one captain showed up.

Anderson said she empathized with cheerleaders upset about being grounded but maintained fans will respond to a safer alternative: enthused cheering and clapping.

Anderson said she expects a smaller 40-member squad to return next year. This year's squad had 54 members, and was Nebraska's biggest.