Aug 15
Senator Urquhart’s Blog Post on the New Century Scholarship
2009 at 8:24 am | posted by Rep. Craig Frank 2 comments
Senator Steve Urquhart’s thoughts…
Link HERE to Utah State Senator Steve Urquhart’s blog on the New Century Scholarship. Interesting proposal.
Rep. Frank’s continuing thoughts…
I agree, promises were made. I agree, the NCS students under contract with the Regents should receive remuneration per that contract. I agree, students that take advantage of this program and then following college graduation stay in Utah to work, help to bolster our state’s economy. I agree, calling the legislature back into special session to address this issue may be an appropriate action (but, that’s up to the Governor’s sole discretion).
Reality check. Clearly, someone, somewhere, misrepresented, intentionally or unintentionally, the financial limits associated with this scholarship/voucher program. And, someone’s gotta pay for the associated shortfall. Who will that be? The State Board of Regents (Higher Ed budget adjustment)? The legislature (supplemental budget)? The governor (discretionary stimulus money)? The NCS students (decreased benefits)?
The New Century Scholarship/voucher is a TAXPAYER FUNDED program. Regardless of the outcome of this deliberation, taxpayers will pick up the tab for this scholarship/voucher. When the legislature uses taxpayer dollars for public/private programs like this, there will always be differing opinions as to how to “appropriately” appropriate those taxpayer dollars.
Your thoughts…
2 Responses to “Senator Urquhart’s Blog Post on the New Century Scholarship”
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August 17th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I really like the comments of “Anonymous” on the http://senatesite.com/blog/2009/08/new-century-scholarship.html site:
“You know as a parent of a student graduating in 2010 I too am frustrated that she has and will work so hard only to look forward to a 25% scholarship at best. However, taking a step back to look at the big picture I have paid very little for her to complete her 2 year degree, so factoring in the approx $2000/semester of tuition multiplied by 8 semesters means that her total tuition costs will be $16000. I didn’t pay for 2 years that’s $8000 and she will probably get another 25% which is another $2000, all total she will receive $16000 worth of school, with $10000 not having to come out of our pocket. Plus she has a leg up on most people her age and can enter the work field 2 years earlier than her peers, with half as much student loan debt. Is it frustrating, yes, but hey we are still getting a pretty dang good deal. We are in a recession and we can either look at cuts to these types of programs or raise our taxes, either way we have to pay for it. Good luck to all of those great kids who are working so hard to make the best of the situation.”
Because of cuts in funding to many services, there will be many people who suffer in different ways linked to many government agencies and services. This education funding really only happens to be one of many that are hurting, and that are making a lot of noise. I feel sorry for the many others who are hurting that don’t have as big a voice.
The hard facts still are, though, that the budget needs to be balanced. I hope that many take the positive attitude exhibited by the anonymous writer above and help shoulder the responsibility of the recession. These kids who have worked so hard will still be the beneficiary of good things and opportunities in the future. Because they are hardworking, I would dare say they will always be the beneficiary of opportunity.
Good luck to the legislature this next session. Hopefully, we as a people in this great state will learn through this session and this next year how to sever ourselves from state funding and learn the all important principle of hard work. The natural benefits of hard work will always be the best source of opportunities and brightness of the future.
March 9th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
My son graduated two years ago after altering his high school experience to compete every requirement of the NCS. He received his acceptance letter with no language of “up to 75%” or “dependent on funding” in it. He chose to put his scholarship on hold according to the guidelines in the NCS and will return at the end of Oct. 2010 to start college in Jan. He is responsible for paying for his own higher education and made sure it was taken care of.
All the kids that graduated his year have benefited from the 75% tuition. All missionaries coming home with the same promise are being punished for serving others first.
The scholarship should be stopped until those that have achieved the scholarship without qualifying statements on their acceptance letters have been fulfilled.