Kansas Legislature may expand program that pays two-year college tuition for hundreds

A popular scholarship program enacted by the Kansas Legislature in recent years to get more workers into high-demand jobs in high-need communities has been thriving, and the program could soon accept students for more career options.

The House Education Committee on Tuesday held a hearing on HB 2132, a bill that would mainly expand the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act to include awards for students enrolled in two-year elementary and secondary education programs, as well as transportation.

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During the 2021-22 school year, the program gave $3.5 million awards to more than 1,000 Kansans, with data for this year not yet finalized.

"It's a relatively new program, but we are seeing more and more individuals being trained in the main areas, and I expect that even though there still being a great demand for workers, there is evidence that (Kansas Promise Scholarships) are beginning to help in some of these critical areas," Blake Flanders, president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents, told The Capital-Journal.

Kansas Promise scholarships pay 'last-dollar' tuition to enroll in high-demand, high-need career fields

First passed by the Legislature in 2021, the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act provides funding for Kansans to attend certain two-year programs at community and technical colleges, as well as some universities, as long as they remain in Kansas for two years following their degree completion and work in a community with a high need or critical demand for workers like them.

To be eligible for a Kansas Promise Scholarship, students must be Kansas residents. Additionally, students must have either received a Kansas high school diploma or GED diploma in the previous year; be at least 21 and have been a Kansas resident for the past three years; or be a dependent child of a military service-member stationed in another state.

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As a "last-dollar" program, Kansas Promise scholarships are meant to pay any remaining costs after other scholarships, grants or third-party funding sources are factored into a students' tuition. The program mostly prioritizes low-middle class Kansas households that may make too much money to qualify for full federal Pell grants but not enough income to pay for tuition outright.

Once awarded, scholarships are renewable as long as students continue to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and maintain at least six hours of enrollment per semester, as long as programs are completed within 36 months. Total awards are capped at the first 68 hours of college credit received by a student or $20,000 in cumulative tuition, whichever comes first.

After graduation, students must live and work in Kansas for at least two consecutive years, although they may first attend another Kansas higher education institution.

HB 2132 would help pay for Kansas community college programs leading to elementary, secondary education careers

When the bill was originally drafted, the Legislature selected four main fields of study that the governing body had determined lead to high wages, but still see a shortage and demand for workers in many Kansas communities.

They included information technology and security, mental and physical health care, advanced manufacturing and building trades, and early childhood education and development.

HB 2132 would expand the childhood education and development category to include two-year elementary and secondary-education programs.

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While a four-year bachelors in education is generally required to receive a full teaching license, several Kansas community colleges partner with many of the state's private colleges to offer "two-plus-two" programs, in which prospective teachers complete an associate's degree at the smaller institutions and finish a bachelor's degree at the larger colleges. Colleges of education at Kansas' public four-year institutions are working on a similar, systemwide plan.

Additionally, each Promise scholarship institution and the Kansas Board of Regents can identify an additional field of study to be eligible for the program from the categories of: agriculture; food and natural resources; education and training; law, public safety, corrections and security; and distribution and logistics.

The new bill would expand the last category to also include transportation, which could open the door to allowing programs like automotive technology and commercial driver's license training.

Kansas Promise Scholarship Act has seen big support in Legislature

In the year and a half since the program has been in place, interest in Kansas Promise scholarships has been steadily growing, Flanders told the committee.

Compared to the $3.5 million in awards the nascent program gave in 2021-22, Flanders expects scholarships to total about $8 million this academic school year, with the program likely reaching a statutory cap of $10 million next year as interest and demand for scholarships builds.

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Flanders said it was hard to predict exactly how the scholarship program might grow, especially since such programs are often dependent on the economy, and not as one might expect. Higher education enrollment is often countercyclical to economic recessions, as laid off or unemployed workers return to school to learn a new skill or profession.

"I do expect more individuals to take more advantage of this as they hear about this benefit," Flanders told The Capital-Journal. "That'll be really great for those students, but also good for our businesses in the state."

The committee passed the bill favorably out Thursday. It now heads to the full House for consideration.

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas Promise Scholarship Act could expand to education students