March 20-21, 2003

ITEM 118-103-R0303:  Board of Regents Policy and Procedure Manual: Student Affairs; Policy 501.1 Montana university system honor scholarships and Policy 940.13 Fee waivers.

THAT:  Effective July 1, 2003, the Montana University System Honor Scholarship be designated as a four-year scholarship that waives tuition and registration fee at the Montana University System campuses and Dawson, Flathead Valley and Miles Community Colleges.

EXPLANATION:   At the May 2002 Board of Regents meeting the Regents approved revisions to the High School Honor Scholarship that would make it more competitive with out-of-state scholarships. The Board also directed the Commissioner's Office to work with the campuses and high school counselors to determine the amount of the scholarship and to develop the underlying policies that would govern the awarding of the scholarship.

Over the past 6 months numerous workshops have been held with high school counselors to discuss the changes to the scholarship policy approved by the Board and to ensure the changes would work at the high school level. In addition conversations have occurred with representatives from Montana State University, The University of Montana and the community colleges to ensure the changes would be implemented consistently across the campuses and would not inflict an undue hardship on the campus budgets. The proposed revisions to the policy are a result of these meetings.

The major change to the policy is that it has been decided to waive full tuition and the registration fee rather than making the scholarship a fixed renewable amount such as $2,500 per academic year. This proposal is in the students best interest as the scholarship amount will increase as tuition increases, thus making college more affordable for the students with limited financial means.

 

ATTACHMENT: Revised Policy 501.1 and 940.13