Wolf promotes new scholarship at KU visit
Gov. Tom Wolf stopped by Kutztown University on March 4 as part of his 14 state-owned university tour, promoting his proposed Nellie Bly Scholarship that addresses the student loan debt crisis.
“Our students are graduating with tons of debt. Pennsylvania, let’s do something about it,” said Wolf. “The Nellie Bly Scholarship Program will help young people to build lives in our communities rather than struggling to pay student loan bills every month.”
Today, the student loan debt for Pennsylvania residents is $68 billion, among the highest in the nation, averaging more than $37,000 per student, said Wolf.
“It really does address a crucial problem that affects every single Pennsylvanian,” said Wolf. “If we can solve this problem, we’re not just helping the students. We’re not just helping the people of Kutztown, Shippensburg or East Stroudsburg. We’re helping ourselves. We’re making Pennsylvania a better place.”
The needs-based, last-dollar-in scholarship program would apply after a student’s Pell Grant and other state grants to enroll in one of the 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities.
“The Nellie Bly Scholarship Program fills the gap after other aid programs so thousands of students can afford college at our world-class state system,” he said. “With less college debt, graduates can buy a car and a home, start a family and save for retirement. The program also strengthens our 14 public universities and creates a talented labor force that Pennsylvania needs to thrive.”
The program would be funded by redirecting $200 million the state currently gives annually to the horse racing industry. The re-purposing of that money would leave the horse-racing fund with $50 million in annual state funding.
Wolf said the plan is “to bet on our students rather than horses.”
To be eligible, students must enroll full-time in a PASSHE undergraduate program and qualify for a federal subsidized student loan. Students must commit to live in Pennsylvania after graduation for the same number of years they received the scholarship. If a student leaves the state early, they must repay the money.
“We’re all going to benefit from this because these bright kids are going to stay here,” said Wolf.
The scholarship is named in honor of Pennsylvania native Nellie Bly who attended the Indiana Normal School, now Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but left due to the cost.
“She became world famous. She enriched the economy of New York, influenced the whole world, but she started as a Pennsylvanian,” said Wolf about the pioneer journalist who helped to force reforms to the mental health care system in the early 20th century. “Shame on us for not giving her the resources she could have used to stay here in Pennsylvania, finish her education and do the great things she ended up doing right here.”
The program would pay full tuition averaging at $7,500 for an estimated 26,666 students out of more than 95,000 total students in the PASSHE system. Details still need to be determined, so those numbers could change depending on whether the scholarship only covers tuition or also covers room and books.
“I think the hardest part is finding the money. We have that,” said Wolf.
“I have a plan but exactly how we implement that is something I think you have to have a broad and open conversation. I’m looking forward to that.”
Sen. Judy Schwank, who serves on the PASSHE Board of Governors, applauded Wolf’s commitment to education. She said his proposal for a historic $200 million investment in scholarships will help make “our great PASSHE system attainable and affordable.”
“Too many Pennsylvania students have been discouraged, and even defeated, by the cost of higher education,” said Schwank. “I know firsthand that every parent’s greatest hope is that their children can do better than they did, that they have every opportunity to success. Our government should have that same goal. No student should have to abandon an unrealized dream for a good education because of financial troubles.”
KU President Kenneth Hawkinson said students at PASSHE schools are often the first in their families to attend college. PASSHE is the state’s largest provider of higher education, and annually awards more than 22,000 degrees in business, science and technology, health, education, visual and performing arts, psychology and public service, he said.
“Your new Nellie Bly Scholarship would change the lives of many thousands of citizens of Pennsylvania and would bring talented students into the state and throughout the region and beyond,” said Hawkinson. “The Nellie Bly Scholarship would not only serve the individual students and their families and the universities they attend, but also pump needed resources into communities throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, leading to greater prosperity for all.”
KU junior Marshae Batchelor of Philadelphia studies a double major in Criminal Justice and Social Work with aspirations to attend law school and be an advocate for youth.
Batchelor is able to attend KU thanks to a Pell Grant and a state grant, as well as additional student loans. She also works three jobs on campus as a tour guide for Admissions, as a note taker for the Disability Services Office and as a community assistant for Residence Life and Housing.
“The Nellie Bly Scholarship would definitely help myself and other students like me who work tirelessly as well as try to achieve academic excellence,” said Batchelor. “It would help me to take a lot off of my shoulders.”
Department of Education Secretary Pedro Rivera said the scholarship program should not be seen as a cost but as an investment into the next generation workforce to be successful in life and in our communities.
“Our future, it runs through places like this,” said Wolf. “If we don’t invest in places like this, if we continue to fail the students who are going through here, we’re actually failing ourselves.”
Wolf agrees, “We have to look at this not as an expenditure, not as an expense… this is an investment into our future.”
In addition, the governor’s budget invests in higher education with $12.9 million to support the State System’s system redesign and a $60 million increase for the Pennsylvania State Grant Program, which serves more than 130,000 students and will increase the maximum award to $4,700.