By Sean Whaley
CARSON CITY – A bill appropriating $10 million from the general fund to ensure the long-term financial health of the Gov. Kenny Guinn Millennium Scholarship saw final Legislative approval today and will go to Gov. Brian Sandoval for his review.
Senate Bill 486 saw unanimous support in the Assembly. It earlier passed the Senate on a 20-1 vote with Sen. Don Gustavson, R-Sparks, voting no.
Gustavson had proposed a bill prohibiting non-citizens from receiving the scholarship, but the measure did not get a hearing.
Sandoval proposed making the additional one-time appropriation to the scholarship in his budget to help keep it funded into the future. The proposal was welcomed by lawmakers of both parties.
In commenting on the bill, Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said the additional financial support should keep the scholarship for qualified Nevada high school graduates solvent until 2015.
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Sandoval received a standing ovation during his State of the State speech in January when he said the scholarship, named after the late Gov. Kenny Guinn, is continued in his budget. The program has been in jeopardy because of budget cuts and revenue shortfalls. Guinn established the scholarship during his first term as governor.
In addition to the $10 million general fund contribution, the scholarship will continue to receive funding from Nevada’s tobacco settlement agreement, as well as a $7.6 million transfer each year from the treasurer’s Unclaimed Property Division.
The program has been used by more than 60,000 Nevada high school graduates who have met the eligibility criteria. There were approximately 21,000 students receiving millennium scholarship benefits this past school year. Since its inception, over 22,000 millennium scholars have earned a degree from a Nevada institution of higher learning.
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The Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee infused the scholarship with College Savings Plans program funds last year to keep it solvent through this school year, but its future was in doubt due in part to lower amounts of funding coming from the tobacco settlement agreement. The annual tobacco payment to Nevada is declining mostly because people are smoking less.
The scholarship currently provides around $25 million per year to Nevada high school graduates who attend a Nevada institution of higher learning. Initial eligibility requirements include graduating from a Nevada high school with a minimum 3.25 grade point average.
About 8,000 high school graduates per year are eligible to receive a millennium scholarship, of which about 60 percent choose to activate their award.
The Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) says the scholarship covers about 56 percent of a student’s tuition costs at a Nevada university, although this percentage will likely fall as the Board of Regents consider a student fee hike for the coming school year.
This year ten West Wendover seniors qualified for the scholarship down from the record 16 last year.
In 2006 the scholarships were retooled, the grade point required to win one was increased from 3.00 to 3.25 and the amount of aid was reduced from paying for 15 credits a semester to just 12.
Difficulty to win a Millennium was also increased perhaps inadvertently by the addition of more subjects covered in the proficiency test. Adopted in 2002 the Nevada Proficiency Examination Program (NPEP) originally consisted of just a reading test . A year later a math exam was added. Two years later a writing test was added and in 2009 a general Science exam joined the curriculum.
Failure of any senior regardless of grade point to pass any of the proficiency exams means no graduation and thus ineligibility for a Millennium grant.
Qualifying or the scholarship does not however mean using it. Traditionally just about half of West Wendover seniors actually use it and attend a Nevada university or college.
West Wendover seniors are not alone in opting out of the Millennium program.
Throughout the state fewer and fewer Millennium scholars are using it. According to the University of Nevada board of regents the percentage of eligible students who use the scholarship has steadily declined since it was introduced in 2000 from 75 percent to 60 percent.
The purpose behind its creation apart from education was to stem a brain drain of Nevada’s best and brightest high school students to out of state schools.
In Wendover and Elko that idea worked. Colleges and Universities in Idaho and Utah did report a sharp decline in applications from rural Nevada. While much closer geographically to rural Nevada the money saved with the scholarship did pay for a lot of gas to visit home and for lodgings in far away Reno or Las Vegas.
UNR and UNLV were not the only destinations for Millennium Scholars, Great Basin Community College with campuses in Elko, Ely and Winnemucca also saw an influx of rural locals.
In fact of this year’s graduates half of all who are using the Millennium will be attending Great Basin College in Elko rather than either UNR or UNLV.
According to WWHS Terry Carsrud the Millennium scholarships in addition to keeping some of Nevada best students in the state, Millennium scholarships also mean the difference for borderline students between skilled and unskilled jobs.
According to Carsrud that is one of the major benefits of the program, while academically inclined students will get to college with or without the Millennium scholarships, for borderline students they offer a chance at a better paying career that is otherwise unreachable.