Mere days after Governor Steve Beshear delivered the gloom and doom news of his budget cuts for state universities, days after University of Kentucky President Lee Todd sent out a damning email and only one day after six state university presidents testified in Frankfort, the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority sent out a blast of its “Financial Aid Tip of the Month” preaching wonders of student financial aid, the CAP program and KEES scholarships.
Perhaps the best known program is the merit-based Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES). Students at certified Kentucky high schools earn college scholarships based on their yearly grade point average and their best ACT score. Home school graduates and GED recipients earn awards based on their ACT score.
Students do not have to apply for a KEES award. If they attend a participating Kentucky college, KHEAA will automatically send the scholarship money after the school reports that they are attending classes. KEES awards may also be used at some out-of-state colleges, but only if the school is in a state that participates in the Academic Common Market and the student is pursuing an approved major not available in Kentucky.
Classic CYA, no? Bad news hits on Tuesday with Beshear’s budget address. KEES funding cuts catapult the entire state into a living nightmare. Lee Todd sends this message (PDF link). Everyone hauls ass to Frankfort to bitch & moan. Then we’re all blessed with a blast straight out of the CYA playbook.
On a somewhat related note: We’ve heard through the grapevine (okay, via Facebook) that University of Louisville students and faculty are planning protests and sit-ins in opposition to upcoming budget cuts. References here and here on Facebook.
Wouldn’t it be a complete nightmare for the current administration and higher education in general if every university in the state cancelled classes in favor of standing up for the most important insurance policy we have for the future– education?
4 responses so far ↓
1 David Adams // Feb 1, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Or we could prohibit the use of state need-based aid by freshman and sophomores at our four-year colleges. This would encourage more families to send their kids to community colleges the first two years, which is cheaper. It would also reduce some of the artificial demand that boosts tuition because of students going to college and checking their price-sensitivity at the door.
Even if it were only a temporary measure, we could combat overcrowding at the community colleges by making admissions competitive. I’m hard-pressed to come up with a better solution without spending more money.
2 alan harbig // Feb 1, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Are you some kind of a neanderthal diot, David Adams?
Do you not understand that the premise behind KEES is to encourage Kentucky’s top students to achieve at state universities?
Why would we penalize these great kids for our government’s inability to keep a promise they made?
The KEES proposal made by the governor is unconscionable and will burden families and students who are already struggling to pay tuition that’s increasing by double digits every year.
3 David Adams // Feb 1, 2008 at 5:21 pm
KEES isn’t a need-based scholarship, Alan Harbig.
4 David Adams // Feb 1, 2008 at 5:25 pm
By the way, I agree with you about the Governor’s proposal on KEES funding. And this isn’t academic to me. In the fall, I will have two children at Georgia Tech. Georgia is the home of the nation’s largest state-run merit-based scholarship program. Their tuition rates are much lower than Kentucky’s. Thanks to the Academic Common Market, my kids get in-state tuition and get to use their KEES awards. Check it out.
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