Find Another Place to Cut

More so than any other cuts made to break the state’s $142 million shortfall, we’re concerned that a “freeze” on new recipients of the Arkansas Academic Challenge and Governor’s Distinguished Scholarships will have the worst impact.

Suspending those programs until adequate funds return to the state’s coffers is supposed to save Arkansas $13.7 million next year, but we say it’ll cost much more in the long run.

About 4,000 potential college freshman would have attended Arkansas colleges and universities next fall on the Challenge ride, which requires a sliding scale minimum grade point based on ACT scores and completing 30 hours of coursework annually. Another 250 would have earned the Governor’s scholarship with a minimum ACT score of 32 (four points off perfect) and similar progress.

These were important incentives to keep Arkansas’ brightest from leaving for more prestigious schools out-of-state. Sans the full ride, many of the good ones will go elsewhere.

It is a misconception that Arkansas’ bloated budget prompted bureaucrats to indiscriminately cut programs. The reason these two scholarships have been nixed is because the Arkansas General Assembly allocated them for “Category B” funding, where money flows only after everything in “Category A” is covered.

That means the Legislature deemed higher education incentives to be of secondary importance. In the Legislature’s defense, only once in 30 years (1986) has a shortfall caused cuts of this magnitude. The assumption was that the funding would be there.

But Arkansas — last in more statistical categories than the Detroit Lions — can’t ever afford to make education an afterthought. College has become crucial for strong earning power.

Lu Hardin, director of the state Department of Education, is hustling to help students look for institutional, ROTC and private funding. His department also urges students to put the same value on borrowing money for college as they would a new truck loan.

Education is certainly an investment worth making. We would just prefer weeding students out with tougher academic requirements rather than their willingness to assume debt or ability to qualify for grants.

Most of the 4,200 affected students will probably find other means to attend college. But of the ones who can’t, how much will they cost Arkansas?