Millennium Scholarship funding debated

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 | 9:33 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- State Treasurer Brian Krolicki and Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani were at odds Monday over how far a new funding source would take the Millennium Scholarship.

At a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Krolicki said Assembly Bill 560 would carry the plan only to the fall of 2008, while his original suggestion, he said, would have extended the $10,000 college scholarship for Nevada high school graduates to 2017.

But Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said AB560 would cover students at least until 2013 or 2014.

"I do not agree with Mr. Krolicki," she told the committee.

AB560 calls for $35 million from the state and an annual $7.6 million from the unclaimed properties fund to prop up the scholarship that has been supported by some of the state's share in the tobacco settlement. That money is not coming in as fast as expected.

The committee is also looking at a change to require students to maintain higher grades than the present 2.6 grade point average. Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, a professor a UNLV, said 2.6 "is not very high."

"It should be tougher to keep it," the Las Vegas Democrat said.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno. Raggio appointed a subcommittee of Sens. Bob Beers and Barbara Cegavske, both Las Vegas Republicans, and Titus to study the issue and report back to the committee.

The Assembly-passed bill will allow reimbursement to a student taking summer courses, but it will not allow money for those taking remedial courses.

A student going to summer school would receive $80 per credit at a university, $60 per credit at the state college and $40 per credit for each lower division course and $60 per credit for each upper division course at the community colleges.

Giunchigliani said the student cannot receive more than the $10,000 so it should not matter if he or she goes to summer school to accelerate the movement toward a degree.

The bill contains a "two strikes and you're out" section. A student who does not make the 2.6 grade requirement during one semester does not get the scholarship for the next semester. But if the grades are at 2.6 or better during that subsequent semester, the scholarship is reinstated. But if dropping below 2.6 happens twice, than the scholarship is ended.

Krolicki's office administers the scholarship program. But the bill switches it to the state Department of Administration.

Giunchigliani said the Assembly wanted to put the administration of the program under the Board of regents, but she said the governor supported it going to the Department of Administration.