When Drew Yoos considered where to go to college, the Richland Northeast High School graduate was attracted by his father’s alma mater, the University of North Carolina.

But earning a $6,700 scholarship paid for by the S.C. lottery — which he only could use at an S.C. school — persuaded Yoos to choose Furman University in Greenville.

“Because the Palmetto Fellow scholarship was available, right off the bat I started looking at in-state schools,” said Yoos, a freshman at Furman.

Yoos isn’t alone.

South Carolina’s lottery-funded college scholarship program has done more to slow the state’s century-old brain-drain than any other state policy, university leaders say.

Data from The College Board, which administers the SAT entrance exam, shows that among S.C. students with the highest SAT scores (1391 to 1600), 46.9 percent say they hope to attend college in South Carolina.

In 2001, just 16.1 percent said they would look to attend college in state.

Participation in the LIFE, HOPE and Palmetto Fellow scholarships has doubled in five years. Last fall, 72,241 S.C. students received some form of lottery-funded assistance.

Furman, which admits 70 percent of its students from out of state, uses the state-funded scholarship as a tool to recruit S.C. students. Last week, it announced a $25,000 scholarship for 80 students. When added to the Palmetto Fellow award from the state, the total comes close to paying Furman’s $32,944 cost of attendance.

“I don’t know if we’d be at 30 percent (S.C. residents as students) without the Palmetto and LIFE scholarships,” said Benny Walker, Furman’s vice president for enrollment.

The lottery-funded scholarships remain a popular program in the General Assembly, despite their soaring price tag — a projected $201.6 million next year, up from $70.5 million in 2002.

House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Cooper, R-Anderson, said he has heard no proposals to limit the funding or eligibility.

‘THE KEY TO MY ACADEMIC CAREER’

Alisha Epps, a University of South Carolina senior and graduate of Lexington County’s White Knoll High School, is staying in state to go to college.

Epps was eligible for the Palmetto Fellow award but was interested in attending Duke University. Because of the Palmetto award, she only applied to S.C. colleges.

Epps said if the financial incentives had been reversed, she might have attended Duke.

Epps — who last week received an honorable mention on USA Today’s All-USA College Academic Team — is exactly the kind of student lawmakers hoped to keep in South Carolina.

Before state-funded scholarships, 24 percent of college-bound high school seniors left the state, said Dennis Pruitt, USC’s vice president for student affairs. He estimates that figure has dropped to about 13 percent.

The scholarships also lure some students back to South Carolina after they go elsewhere.

Erin Curtis’ class rank wasn’t high enough to qualify for the LIFE scholarship when she graduated from Lexington High School. She ended up spending her first year at King College in Bristol, Tenn. Her academic record there allowed her to transfer to USC and qualify for the $5,000-a-year grant.

“The scholarship has made it possible for me to focus on my school work rather than on finding a job,” Curtis said. “That has been the key to my academic career.”

‘KIDS TO TRANSFORM THE ECONOMY’

In part due to the state scholarship money, applications have exploded at the state’s two public undergraduate research universities.

Clemson will notify students this month whether they have been admitted. President James Barker said he expects his phone to begin ringing soon after from parents of high school seniors.

“They won’t be calling about the cost,” he said. “They’ll be calling because their children were not admitted.”

The increased number of applications has allowed Clemson and USC to raise the academic bar for admission. But they continue to enroll the most LIFE scholarship recipients — 1,403 to Clemson and 1,051 to USC.

Among private colleges, the top schools attracting LIFE scholars were North Greenville College, 507; Charleston Southern University, 453; Anderson College, 448; Bob Jones University, 380; and Claflin University, 343.

“We are getting a huge proportion of those students staying in South Carolina today,” USC president Andrew Sorensen said. “If we didn’t have this scholarship program, that might be a very different story. I don’t think the value of this program can be overstated.”

Sorensen, who has worked at institutions as diverse as Johns Hopkins University, the University of Florida and the University of Alabama, said lottery-funded scholarships will have immense long-term benefits for South Carolina.

“As we move from the heavy manufacturing, agriculture, and textile mill economy to the knowledge-revolution-driven industries,” he said, “graduates of these programs are going to make a difference in this state.

“We have more than 7,300 graduates at USC each year. We need these kids to transform the economy of this state.”

Source: thestate.com

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Sunday, February 19, 2006 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Education News, Scholarship. Tags: Alabama, Alisha Epps, Anderson College, Andrew Sorensen, Benny Walker, Bob Jones University, Bristol, Charleston Southern University, Claflin University, College, College Board, Dan Cooper, Dennis Pruitt, Drew Yoos, Duke University, Erin Curtisâ, Florida, Furman University in Greenville, General Assembly, Grant, Greenville, James Barker, Johns Hopkins University, King College, Lexington County’s White Knoll High School, Lexington High School, North Carolina, North Greenville College, Richland Northeast High School, Scholarship, SGD, South Carolina, Student, Tennessee, University of Alabama, University of Florida, University of North Carolina, University of South Carolina, Ways and Means Committee, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.