Chancellor defends scholarship program

Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 11:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn and university system Chancellor Jane Nichols are disputing statements by a legislative consultant that the Millennium Scholarship program has done little to increase college attendance.

Guinn said today that the consultant used 2000 figures in estimating the number of high school students going to college. His Millennium Scholarship program had been in effect only one year, the governor said.

When it started, 37 percent of the state's high school students were going on to college, Guinn said. The governor said figures he received from the university show 48 percent of the high school students went to college last year.

After Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems made his statement, Guinn said he called Nichols to verify the numbers. He said he did not ask her to make any statement.

Nichols, who leads the University and Community College System of Nevada, said in a press release Thursday, "We have seen an increase in our college-going rate since Gov. Guinn launched the Millennium Scholarship Program." In the first year the scholarship was available, the system saw an increase of more than 8 percent, she said.

Nichols was in the audience Tuesday at a meeting of the Legislative Committee to Evaluate Higher Education Program, which has hired Jones as a consultant.

Jones told the committee that only 40.3 percent of those graduating from high school in 2000 went directly to college in Nevada, which was 49th in the nation. Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, suggested the percentage was better since the state started the Millennium Scholarship.

Jones replied the experience in other states with similar scholarship programs was that they tended to keep student who were planning to go to college in the state rather than leaving the state.

"It is unlikely it (the Millennium Scholarship) have made a large difference in the participate rate" of those going to college, Jones said.

Guinn said no other state has a program like Nevada's. He said Georgia started the Hope Scholarship program to keep its students home.

Nichols, who did not contest Jones' statements at the meeting, said Thursday figures show 47.1 percent of Nevada students in the class of 2000 immediately enrolled in a two- or four-year degree program after graduation, either in Nevada or other states, resulting in an overall increase of nearly 7 percent.

"Although subsequent increases have been less dramatic, they still reflect more students going to college in Nevada," she said.

Jones said the 48 percent rate includes those who are not seeking degrees but only taking part-time classes.

He presented figures that show only Utah has a lower rate of high school graduates going directly to college. The 38.1 percent in Utah, he said, was because so many students go on Mormon missions immediately after graduation.

The average in the United States of high school graduates going directly to college is 56.7 percent.