Scholarship for dual enrollee students proposed

High school students enrolled in college courses could receive a scholarship under a bill heard by the Education Committee March 3.

LB102, introduced by Cedar Rapids Sen. Kate Sullivan, would provide up to $1,500 in need-based aid to students in their first or second year of full-time attendance at a qualified Nebraska postsecondary institution. Sullivan said that the Access College Early Plus Scholarship Program (ACE Plus) already exists at the federal level but those funds no longer will be available starting fiscal year 2015-2016.

“Last year nearly 380 students received scholarships under [the ACE Plus program],” Sullivan said. “[LB102] would put the program into state statute and provide state funding.”

Mike Baumgartner, executive director of the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, spoke in favor of the bill.

“The ACE Plus program helps kids succeed as they move on to college,” he said. “When ACE Plus students finish college, 81 percent of them have accomplished at least a 3.0 grade point average. [LB102] is a critical first step for this program.”

No one testified in opposition to the bill and the committee took no immediate action on it.