Bill could allow college tuition to be free

“Stay in Wyoming for college and it won’t cost you a dime” is what Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, would like to see happen for Wyoming students.

The bill he is sponsoring would give students four years or eight semesters free at any Wyoming college and is patterned after Louisiana’s Taylor Plan.

The Joint Education Committee listened to the University of Louisiana Systems President Emeritus James Caillier explain that Louisiana’s plan to send students to college costs the state about $119 million annually. Caillier estimated that Wyoming could implement a similar program at a cost of $16 million per year.

According to Caillier, the Taylor Foundation is a tuition assistance program that was instituted in Louisiana to prepare high school kids for post secondary education.

This program is designed to encourage students to have a desire to take tougher classes in high school, keep their GPA at a 2.5 average or higher, achieve a score of at least 17 on the ACT and stay out of trouble.

“Because of the program, high school students are taking tougher classes and working harder. It also provides a boost to the university system by keeping more students in state for college,” Caillier said. “If students leave the state to attend college, statistics show that 80 percent never come back.”
According to Caillier, a recent Louisiana survey, 35 percent of students needed remedial training after high school to be prepared for college. Now there is no need for remedial training and the average GPA has increased significantly. Also less than 40 percent of students applied to colleges and now 57 percent apply to college and 45 percent of those are using funds from the Taylor Foundation.

Caillier stated that the state of Wyoming needs to design a program that will meet the needs for Wyoming students.

House Bill O285 is the bill proposed that could make a college education a possibility for more Wyoming students. Wyoming tuition opportunity program eligibility requirements under HBO285 proposal would be; a student has to reside in Wyoming for the 24 months preceding college or university enrollment, has successfully completed at least 16 1/2 units of high school course work and have no criminal conviction, except for misdemeanor traffic violations.

The student will have to graduate with a 2.5 or higher grade average based on a 4.0 scale and have applied within two years of the date of graduation and have a score of 19 or higher on the ACT test.

“This program offers a chance for many students to attend college if they keep their grades up in high school,” Eastern Wyoming College President Jack Bottenfield said. “However, one of the emphasis of this program is to start talking to kids at a young age about college, not wait until they are in high school. If kids can begin to see the advantage of good grades early, it could make the difference in the path they follow. Parents need to encourage their kids to have the desire to want to go to college and this program could be the answer for those parents so they can say yes there is a way, let me show you what you can do to be able to go to college.”

The rest of the story

BY WENDY BULLER
Torrington Telegram