Taman Siswa

The state Senate sent over to the House a bill that implements a state scholarship program to help pay for college education in Wyoming.

The measure, which sets up the rules and regulations for the Hathaway Scholarship program, unanimously passed the Senate on third reading Thursday. The bill now heads to the House.

Senators rejected a proposed amendment that would have lowered the grade-point average required for first-semester college freshmen to keep their scholarships by one-quarter point, from 2.25 to 2.0.

Requirements in the bill say students who don’t maintain the minimum grade-point average will lose their scholarships for a minimum of one semester until they bring their grades back up.*

Sen. Curt Meier, R-LaGrange, proposed the amendment, which he said would cut new college students some slack during their first semester.

“Sometimes a young person can go to school and make a few mistakes and their GPA can suffer,” Meier said.

But Sen. Hank Coe, R-Cody, said the idea would send the wrong message.

“If you put this in, it says students can go down that first semester and mess around. That first semester is tough. But this is a serious program,” Coe said.

The amendment was defeated on a 16-13 vote.

Interim University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan praised the Senate’s action, saying the legislation “will give more Wyoming students an opportunity to earn a college education.”

“It also provides the Wyoming economy with a more skilled and attractive work force,” he said.

Meanwhile, a separate bill, which would provide the money to jump-start the program for this year’s seniors, passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday and was sent to the Senate floor. It provides $13.5 million to pay for scholarships for the classes of 2006 and 2007 as well as $556,000 to the Wyoming Department of Education to administer the program.

In addition, the bill sets aside $4.2 million to jump-start the endowed chairs program at the University of Wyoming and the state’s seven community colleges. Of that, $2.8 million would go to the university, and $1.4 million would be divided among the colleges.

The bills are Senate Files 85 and 86.