Monday, October 15, 2001

New York State Seeks to Make Good on Shortfall for National Guard Scholarships By DANA MULHAUSER Almost 300 members of the New York National Guard -- some units of which have been activated since the September 11 terrorist attacks -- will not receive the college scholarships they were promised this year because of a budget shortfall. State legislators have begun efforts to make up the deficit, which will probably amount to $500,000. The scholarship program offers awards of up to $3,400 a year, the top cost of tuition at New York State's public colleges. That inducement is a prominent part of the National Guard's recruitment strategy, but nowhere in its advertisements or on its Web site does it say that the money is not guaranteed. The scholarships went to 1,648 students this year, while 295 were denied, Scott Sandman, a spokesman for the New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs, told The New York Times. State legislators and a spokesman for Gov. George E. Pataki, a Republican, said they would find a way to cover the costs. More than 4,500 New York National Guard members were activated to aid in recent relief efforts. Dennis B. Tillman, the financial-aid director at the State University of New York at Albany, said that at least eight students at his university had been called to active duty since September 11, but that he did not know whether any of them were among the students denied scholarships. Financial-aid directors at several New York public universities said that they had not been contacted, either by students or by the National Guard, about the change. Students eligible for the scholarships have already exhausted their other public financial-aid resources, including Pell Grants and state assistance programs, so they have no immediate replacement for the National Guard scholarship. The number of students applying for the scholarships has mushroomed since they were introduced, in 1996, said Kathleen Pagano, interim director of financial aid at the State University of New York College at Oswego. This year, the state allocated $3-million for the program, but overenrollment led to the shortfall. "New York State's budget hasn't passed yet, so there's still the opportunity for them to get this right," Ms. Pagano said. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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