By Bryan Corbin, Evansville Courier & Press
INDIANAPOLIS - In a bid to steer more high school graduates into college, Gov. Mitch Daniels wants the state to provide up to $6,000 to children from middle-income families to apply toward tuition costs.
That would be enough to cover tuition for two years at Ivy Tech Community College or an equivalent amount would be available for tuition at one of the state's four-year state colleges or universities.
Although Daniels does not yet have a firm plan to finance his proposal, he wants to revisit the idea of leasing the Hoosier Lottery to a private operator to generate lease proceeds to pay for scholarships. He called a tax increase a last resort.
Those eligible for the scholarships would be recent high school graduates from families with a median income of up to $54,000 a year, Daniels said.
He proposed that the state cover approximately $3,000 in tuition per year for two years - enough to pay for a two-year associate's degree program at Ivy Tech. Students also could apply the same amount to partially defray tuition costs at another state school.
The governor could not say how many college-bound students would be eligible for such a plan. It would depend on the funding available.
"I would like to help as many families as we possibly can. You would simply scale the program up to match what you were able to assemble," he said.
According to a 2008 Indiana Chamber of Commerce report, Indiana ranks 41st among states for the percentage of adults with an associate's degree or higher. Daniels framed his proposal in the context of boosting opportunities for middle-income students who don't qualify for low-income scholarships and for whom college might appear out of reach.
Speaking to a group of trustees and administrators from the state's colleges and universities at a Commission for Higher Education conference, the Republican governor challenged them to suggest proposals for funding such scholarships. He said he would "use the next three or four weeks to consider both the shape of the program and figure out what we think the best source of funds would be."
Linda Bennett, provost of the University of Southern Indiana, said tuition there is in the range of $4,700 a year.
"I think we've all been thinking hard about ways of keeping education affordable," Bennett said. "You'd have to ask the governor for a little more detail in terms of how he would see that being funded."
She said it will be a "front-burner" issue for the Legislature. She said she found it "heartening" that the issue was raised.
Lottery privatization would be one way to finance scholarships, Daniels said.
In December 2006, Daniels proposed leasing the Hoosier Lottery to a private entity that would pay $1 billion for the rights to operate it and collect its profits. The state in turn would have used the proceeds to fund college scholarships and life-sciences research. Though Daniels' bill passed in the Republican-controlled Senate, it never got a hearing in the Democratic-controlled Indiana House and died at the end of the 2007 session.
"I remind everybody, at its inception (in 1989), most Hoosiers thought the lottery was going to be committed for education in some fashion. That never happened," Daniels said Wednesday. "This (scholarship program) would be a way to return to that concept."
State lawmakers of both parties lauded the idea of making college affordable for all, but said they wanted to know more about the financing.
"The basic bottom line is, it's a good idea, one we need to look at; but at the same time we need to look at a way of funding it, rather than squandering (the lottery), a significant revenue source for state government," Rep. Dennis Avery, D-Evansville, said.
Daniels said his scholarship proposal also would reduce the debt load for college students.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.