
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 25, 1994                   TAG: 9403250038
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

STATE CUTS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Elimination of the Virginia Scholars program, which offered scholarships to state residents attending public colleges, could send Virginia's brightest students elsewhere, school officials say.

The General Assembly has approved about $670,000 in the 1994-96 budget to pay the $3,000 annual scholarships of the more than 100 students already in the program. Those students must maintain a B average or better.

But the $150,000 needed to extend scholarships to 50 more students, including high school seniors and some community college students, was cut from the budget proposed by then-Gov. Douglas Wilder. State officials said 927 students applied for the 50 scholarships.

The General Assembly ultimately beefed up Wilder's higher-education financing plan, including extra money for financial aid based on need. But legislators did not revise the budget to cover new Virginia Scholars.

"There's so little merit-based money out there. I hate to see the state keep cutting and cutting and see our good students run to other states," said Betty Ballard, a calculus and advanced math teacher at Midlothian High School.

The program is the only tax-supported, merit-based college scholarship program offered statewide. It was created a decade ago to help keep the state's best students at home for their higher education.

The General Assembly's action came five months after this year's 877 high school and 50 community college applicants wrote essays and filled out the lengthy forms required by mid-October for the scholarship program.

In February, the State Council of Higher Education sent letters to the students warning them of the budget situation and encouraging them "to pursue other sources of financial assistance."

Students last week received another letter from the state saying there are no new merit scholarships for this fall.

"They did everything required . . . then the state notified them and said they weren't doing it anymore," said Ann Taylor, Matoaca High School's director of counseling.

"When students applied, we had no idea what the [financing] chances would be," said Barbara Hart, a state council financial aid assistant. "We didn't string them along; we got strung along as well."

by CNB