College aid gets lifeline

A scholarship program that has helped tens of thousands of Nevada students attend college will remain fully intact for the upcoming school year following a move by the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee.

The committee on Wednesday unanimously approved transfers totaling about $4.2 million to cover the costs of providing Millennium Scholarships worth up to $10,000 each for the upcoming fiscal year.

The move doesn't assure the program will remain in its current form indefinitely. It does mean, however, that students who already have qualified can count on the program for the upcoming school year.

"They are not asking for a handout," J.T. Creedon, student body president at the College of Southern Nevada, told the committee before the vote about students who depend on the program. "They are determined to lift themselves up even with the economic climate they are facing."

The money to sustain the program through the upcoming year came from a college savings program administered by the state treasurer's office. The program allows people to make tax-free investments as a means to save for college. The transfer doesn't come from investment proceeds but from the state's share of brokerage fees.

Legislators from both major parties indicated, however, the upcoming legislative session could include cutbacks for the program.

"Funding for all programs is going to be difficult in this next legislative session," said Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas. "We want to give as many people the opportunity as we can, but we can only give the opportunity to as many people as we can afford."

Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, said, "I personally kind of doubt we are going to be able to keep up the Millennium Scholarship at the level we have."

The Millennium Scholarship program was founded in 1999 under Gov. Kenny Guinn. It provides up to $10,000 to students who graduate from a Nevada high school with a 3.25 grade point average or higher to attend a public college or university in Nevada. About 21,000 students now receive the scholarships, another 8,992 are expected to be qualified this year, and about 60,000 have received the scholarship during the history of the program.

Funding typically comes from the state's share of a tobacco settlement and a portion of the state's unclaimed property fund. The tobacco settlement money fell about $3.2 million short of expectations in 2010, and the Legislature has diverted $7.6 million each for fiscal years 2009, 2010 and 2011 from the property fund to cover general fund shortfalls.

"If they didn't take that ... we would have been fine," said Steve George, chief of staff to Treasurer Kate Marshall.

In 2005, the Legislature kicked $35 million from the general fund to the scholarship program, and it subsequently approved annual transfers of $7.6 million from the unclaimed property fund.

Lately, however, the Legislature has been taking money from the scholarship fund to cover shortfalls. In addition to diverting the property money away from the scholarship, the Legislature has approved another $10 million in withdrawals from the program.

The sum total of all the additions and subtractions in recent years, including the unexpected tobacco shortfall, left the scholarship program an estimated $4.2 million short for the current fiscal year. The transfers were meant to cover that immediate shortfall.

Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, both voted in favor of the transfers but expressed concern about the long-term future of the scholarship program.

Both indicated they would support tightening the requirements for future scholarship recipients. Raggio said the Legislature still faces the prospect of a budget shortfall of $3 billion or more in the upcoming biennium, a shortfall that won't be any easier to close with pressure to use tobacco and property money on the scholarship and the general fund.

"I am concerned about the next session," Raggio said. "I think we are going to be looking at some tough decisions. This will make those decisions a little tougher."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.