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Plan promises scholarships to students

Critic argues Amendment 58 a lame 'handout'

By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 20, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Students walk on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder on Thursday. Amendment 58 would set aside scholarship money for Colorado students.

Photo by Matt McClain / The Rocky

Students walk on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder on Thursday. Amendment 58 would set aside scholarship money for Colorado students.

David Skaggs called scholarships a straightforward process.

David Skaggs called scholarships a straightforward process.

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Colorado students could receive an estimated $1,000 to $6,000 per year for college under a scholarship plan that's a key component of Amendment 58.

Under draft guidelines issued this month by the Colorado Department of Higher Education, students would be awarded the money - derived from a boost in state revenues from oil and gas drilling - depending on family income and the type of institution attended, such as community college or a four-year university.

But the guidelines are far from set in stone and include proposals that students have at least a 2.0 grade-point average and achieve at least a 2.5 grade-point average after two years of college. A document produced by state higher education officials notes the guidelines "are for discussion only."

And state officials acknowledge that the stipends - called "Colorado Promise Scholarships" - would cover only a portion of higher education costs and would have to be combined with federal aid and perhaps private scholarships or a student's own resources to foot the entire bill.

"The resources available to the state will remain limited even if (the measure) passes," said a state higher education document in July.

The measure, if approved by voters in November, would generate an estimated $320 million by killing a property tax credit enjoyed by energy companies drilling for oil and gas in Colorado. Under the proposal, 60 percent of that money would be set aside for scholarships.

Critics fighting the ballot issue say the scholarship plan is vague, and voters haven't been presented with a good enough sense of how they, or their children, would benefit.

"There's been very little vetting of how this is going to work," said Dan Hopkins, spokesman for Coloradans for a Stable Economy, the group funded with nearly $10 million in contributions from oil and gas companies to fight the proposal.

Another campaign official, Rick Reiter, was far harsher, calling the plan a "handout" that would only provide most students with "weekend beer money."

But those same critics also sued state education officials this summer when they began drafting a plan on how to administer the scholarships.

David Skaggs, head of the state's higher ed department, called the scholarship program under Amendment 58 "a very straightforward process for the schools to administer."

"It's really following the same process they already use to determine financial need, but with three times - at least - the state financial aid to assist lower- and middle-income families."

hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5048

Comments

  • September 20, 2008

    12:31 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    SL10 writes:

    Big oil does not like to help college students? Wow, that is news.

  • September 20, 2008

    11:51 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    clyde writes:

    So a 321 million dollar tax increase on everyone to pay for scholarships for a few. I already pay well over 50% of my income in taxes, and I'm not in the "wealthy" class. Enough IS enough!

  • September 20, 2008

    7:18 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    HopiMedicineMan writes:

    The money we're talking about here is drug money for liberals, a cultural imperative.

    Liberals go to school on scholarships because of their prejudices, even if their parents aren't wealthy. Conservatives work their way through college, if their parents are not wealthy or they rely on the GI bill. That's how it's been for 40 years. Scholarship means liberal, conservative not allowed. Scholarships are blatantly biased. Stop scholarships now.

  • September 21, 2008

    12:08 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    SSG_USA_Student writes:

    I served in the Army for eight years and I am a veteran of OEF and OIF, and currently a student at CSU in the Engineering Department I would like to scream “WAKE UP” to those who think students in Colorado do not need more scholarships to help them get through school. As an engineering student, I am responsible for paying for the engineering lab equipment, materials we use, and computers. This adds around $300 per class that I must pay. The fact that as a student body CSU decided to not wait on the state to fix our facilities and increased the tuition per student credit hour to pay for updating buildings and maintaining those which we already have.

    Granted I chose to become and engineer and will surely reap the benefits of this career choice later, but it is a sad omen when I look around my engineering classes and see a dominant presence of foreign students, instead of local kids. While we were living the good life and clinging to our rights, which were earned by our grandparents our generation has sat on their laurels and watched good jobs, get shipped over seas to a skilled and trained work force who value higher education and fund it.

    As a community let us invest in education for society, educate our children, so they can find answers to the problems we will leave them.

    Please read these ballot issues carefully the increase in property taxes will be paid by the oil and gas industry, which has a free meal ticket in CO currently. The ads you hear on the radio and TV were funded by the Oil and Gas industry through Coloradoan’s for a stable economy. I think enough is enough make them pay a reasonable fair to rape our landscape and ruin our environment!