The Senate passed legislation with far-reaching changes in how state-supported colleges and universities divide state aid, and how students qualify for scholarships.
One of the most noticeable changes will be in how much is awarded the first year to students who qualify for an Academic Challenge Scholarship. Now, students receive $1,000 during their first year, and that will go up to $2,000.
The scholarships are funded with revenue from the state lottery. Since Arkansas voters approved the lottery in 2008 in a statewide election, it has paid for more than 770,000 scholarships. Their value is about $1.4 billion.
Students at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville have received 147,000 scholarships valued at $262 million. At Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, almost 85,000 scholarships have been awarded. They’re valued at $155 million.
At Arkansas Tech, more than 74,000 scholarships worth $132 million have been awarded since the lottery began.
Students at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia have received more than 26,000 scholarships since the beginning of the program. They’re valued at $44.8 million.
At the University of Arkansas at Monticello, more than 5,400 scholarships valued at $9.5 million have been awarded.
Senate Bill 246 also changes other and smaller scholarship programs. It will expand Workforce Challenge Scholarships by $9 million. This program helps students in workforce training who take classes in the high-demand areas of health care, information technology and industry. Students may take non-credit classes if they fit within those qualifying categories.
Access to higher education will become easier because the bill standardizes course numbering and will make application forms uniform for all state institutions.
It broadens the types of advanced placement courses that students may take in order to earn college credits while still in high school. It broadens the types of standardized tests that institutions will accept as admission tests.
The fiscal impact for colleges and universities will not be fully known for several years. The bill will change the state’s formula for distributing state aid to include a “return on investment” metric that aligns with the state’s economic and workforce needs.
The Senate also approved House Bill 1634 to allow colleges and universities to operate raffles, to raise money to pay players on their athletic teams. In recent seasons, college sports have changed dramatically because players are no longer amateurs. They can accept payment for the use of their name, image or likeness (NIL).
In other news, the Senate approved SB 307 to allow utilities greater flexibility to recover investments in new power plants. Supporters of the bill said that other states have similar laws, and Arkansas must become more competitive in energy production because demand is expected to increase steadily in the future.
Under current law, utilities incur finance charges during construction. SB 307 would allow utilities to begin recovering costs from ratepayers during construction, and thus avoid some finance charges. Those savings would then be passed along to customers. SB 307 now goes to the House of Representatives.
