Scholarship plan shrinks
BOISE – Legislative budget writers approved $12 million Wednesday for a new college scholarship program for low-income Idaho college students, a scaled-down version of Gov. Butch Otter’s scholarship proposal.
“I think it’s important for our kids, and I think it’s also important for the economy of the state,” Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.
The panel was divided, voting 13-7 in favor of the plan.
Strong objection came from Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, who said with Otter’s veto of the grocery tax relief bill Tuesday – a multimillion-dollar budget issue in play – “I have a great worry here that we are, at the end game, being squeezed into something that is not prudent.”
Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, opposed the move because she said, “I would prefer to spend our efforts in making our Idaho institutions affordable for everyone, not just a select few that are fortunate enough to get scholarships.”
Hammond, a former member of the state Board of Education, said he’s long watched college tuitions and other costs rise, closing more students out of the possibility of a college education. The new scholarship program would give needs-based scholarship awards of up to $3,000 a year, but only after students have exhausted other funding sources.
“Look at who this is really for,” Hammond said. “This is for students who otherwise might not be able to attend.”
Of the money set aside, $2 million would go toward scholarships in the coming year.
The remaining $10 million would go into an endowment to generate interest to fund future scholarship awards. Otter had called for a $38 million self-sustaining endowment, to generate about $2 million in scholarships each year with its earnings.
House Appropriations Chair Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, said the plan will allow the same number of students to be helped next year that Otter had proposed. “It was the best we could do,” she said, adding, “We do have the ability to cover this.”
Just one-third of Idaho high school students now go directly to college after graduation. The state offers $17 per student in need-based aid annually, according to the state Department of Education. The national average is $387.
The money still has to be approved by the full House and Senate, as well as Otter, but appropriation bills rarely are changed after they’re set by JFAC.
Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said the governor has told him that the figure approved by JFAC was acceptable, even though it’s lower than Otter’s original proposal.
Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, said he expected to vote against the plan because he preferred to give scholarships only for professional-technical and community college students. But Bell pointed out that those students likely will benefit the most from the program. Henderson voted no, then changed his vote to yes.
Other North Idaho JFAC members split; Hammond, Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, and Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, voted in favor; while Keough and Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, voted against.