Editorial: Commit to education

Thursday, May 20, 2004 | 8:35 a.m.

This year the first full class of Nevada students who were awarded Millennium Scholarships in 2000 will graduate from the state's public universities. About 400 graduates were recipients of Millennium Scholarships, which are funded by the state's portion of a national settlement with tobacco companies. The scholarship is an incentive to keep students in Nevada who otherwise might be tempted to get their education out of state. And for some students it may be the difference between being able to afford college or having to go immediately to work. The Millennium Scholarship program has been praised as an important step in trying to improve the state's historically low percentage of high school students who go on to receive a university education, but full funding for the program could run out by 2008 because of dwindling proceeds from the tobacco settlement.

The state of Nevada should continue this program with or without tobacco money. This may be easier said than done, however, given the state's chronic lack of providing enough funding for higher education. The reality is that this scholarship program never would have come into being if it hadn't been for the windfall from the tobacco lawsuit settlement. What's needed now is a real commitment from state leaders to sustain the scholarship program, one that will require more than just platitudes about the importance of higher education in building this state's future.