Beebe To Seek Rainy Day Funds For Higher Ed Help
by June 6, 2013 7:51 am 92 views
In mid-May, Talk Business reported that professional school higher education students were facing significant financial hurdles due to state budget cuts to the Arkansas Health Education Grants (ARHEG) program.
The cuts would hit hardest those students attending dentistry, optometry and veterinary schools out-of-state. Arkansas doesn’t have those specific professional schools in state.
On Wednesday (June 5), Gov. Mike Beebe said he would ask state lawmakers to release $1.1 million in rainy day funds to help with those cuts.
“This rainy-day money will help more students pursue their professional training, but it is only a one-year solution,” Beebe said. “The Legislature will have to make funding decisions for the next three years of these students’ grants, and whether money will be available to maintain ARHEG financial aid in the future.”
The ARHEG program helps students pay out-of-state tuition for medical programs not offered at Arkansas institutions, including veterinary medicine, dentistry and optometry.
Beebe is expected to submit the formal request to the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Peer Review Committee on July 11, the group’s first meeting of the upcoming fiscal year.