Millennium scholars await funds

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003 | 10:55 a.m.

Incoming college freshmen are scrambling to get their Millennium Scholarship awards funded in time for the start of school after the state treasurer's office sent out the letters notifying them of the awards a month late.

Award letters notifying more than 8,000 high school graduates of their $10,000 scholarship were sent by State Treasurer Brian Krolicki last week, only two to four weeks before tuition payment deadlines. The delay leaves little time for students to accept the award and have it distributed.

"I'm a little worried because my friend got hers in the mail and I haven't received mine yet," said Maria Martin, 18, who graduated from the Advanced Technology Academy and will be attending the University of Nevada, Reno this fall. "I'm leaving for Reno in two weeks and I'm hoping I get it before then."

The scholarships must be funded before the end of August to meet the deadline at most Nevada institutions for settling outstanding bills. Usually if bills aren't paid, most colleges and universities purge students from their classes, forcing them to re-register after the bill is settled. The schools are urging students to act fast when they receive their confirmation letters to avoid problems.

"Students are calling and I'm just telling them to get that (Millennium Scholarship award letter) back as soon as you can," said Pamela Hicks, director of undergraduate recruitment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "We cannot pay their bills until we get that letter."

Chancellor Jane Nichols said most schools are aware of the delay and are trying to work with students to get their bills paid before kicking them out of class.

"The institutions are very aware of this," Nichols said. "They have been kept in the loop on any delay and are trying to make sure students don't get harmed in the process."

The UNLV deadline is Aug. 29, but administrators have identified any potential Millennium Scholarship students and will given them a little extra time, Tom Flagg, a university spokesman, said.

The Community College of Southern Nevada has done the same thing by giving all scholarship recipients a break on their Aug. 11 deadline.

"As long as we tag them as a Millennium student, they won't be purged from our system," said Laura Latimer, CCSN's director of student support service and Millennium customer service.

The delay happened because the state treasurer's office considered implementing a new system to comply with a 1996 federal immigration law that requires states to give out-of-state tuition to nonresidents if they offer offer it to undocumented immigrants.

Krolicki said in June he believed the law could also apply to the scholarship fund and crafted a letter that asked students about their resident status.

Krolicki has since dropped that version of the letter, causing the delay. He opted instead to have the Board of Regents take up the issue.

"It's not a simple question whether we should do something that is in compliance with the 1996 rules regarding citizenship or not," Kathy Besser, assistant state treasurer, said. "By us trying to do the right thing, it's just taken us a little time."

While the treasurer's office deals with the crunch of students trying to get their award confirmation letters in on time, Nichols said regents next week will review the legal question of whether or not the state is in compliance with the federal law.

"The federal legislation that raised the question in the first place does not indicate that the state cannot give these scholarships to students who are not U.S. citizens," Nichols said.

A legal opinion from the attorney general's office is due out next week.