The Higher Education Partnership will release a press statement on this resolution. As financial aid professionals, we feel compelled to express our concerns regarding the proposed legislation for the establishment of a state-funded tuition scholarship program. That no tuition scholarship program be funded, in whole or in part, at the expense of the State's Educational Trust Fund. It is our belief that state appropriations should be aimed at the Institution in an effort to keep student tuition for all Alabama students as low as possible.
Low tuition is the best way to guarantee higher educational access to all Alabama citizens.
This increase will translate into a hidden tax in the form of increased tuition for those families who do not qualify for any program which is funded out of the trust fund. That a thorough study be implemented to determine how many Alabama students would be affected by such a tuition scholarship program. A complete study should also include a determination of what federal and state programs currently exist for Alabama students and how and at what level they are currently funded.