Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Shortfall will mean higher costs for Millennium Scholarship students

Senate majority leader to call special meeting for fix

Sun Coverage

CARSON CITY - The Millennium Scholarship is projected to pay out about 65 percent of what it has previously been worth, meaning the students that receive the assistance will have to pay about an additional $300 to attend class beginning this fall semester, according to the state treasurer's office.

The popular program has been hurt by lower-than-expected payouts from tobacco funds and the Legislature repeatedly raiding another fund that had helped pay for the scholarship during budget cuts, according to the state treasurer's office, which administers the program.

The Millennium Scholarship will have enough money to pay the full amount for the summer semester, according to Mark Winebarger, chief deputy treasurer. For a student attending a university, that would normally be a maximum of $960.

Based on current attendance projections and existing balances, those university students would get $624 for the fall semester.

Deputy Treasurer Steve George said that based on an opinion from the Attorney General's office, the payment cuts would have to be across the board for all scholarship recipients.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford said he planned to call a special meeting of the Interim Finance Committee in the next couple of weeks to look at potential solutions to fill the projected $4.2 million shortfall for the Millennium Scholarship.

During Thursday's meeting, Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said the Legislature deserved blame. "We can't wash our hands of this like Pontius Pilate."

Coffin railed against cuts in February's special session.

Though the treasurer's office said in February the fund would be solvent through 2014, Coffin said he had been told a few hours earlier that it would run out of money in 2011.

George said tobacco settlement funds came in lower than expected.

“This isn't about pointing fingers,” Horsford said after the meeting. He said it would be the Legislature's priority to save the fund.

The state gets tobacco settlement payments on April 15. Because of that, the treasurer's office expects the fund to have enough money to help pay for the spring semester.

The exact amount of money that Millennium Scholarship students will get for the fall semester will not be known until enrollment is finalized in October.

Students who graduate from high school in Nevada with a 3.25 GPA qualify for the scholarship.

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