The number of students currently enrolled in the state's Academic Scholar's Program (ASP) has fallen by 57 students since fall 2012, according to a report approved Thursday by Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.
The program provides students scholarships to use toward tuition, fees and other school expenses for up to four year while enrolled at accredited colleges or universities in Oklahoma. State high school students can automatically qualify for ASP if they are designated aNational Merit Scholar, National Merit Finalist or Presidential Scholar. They can also automatically qualify if they receive an ACT or SAT score in the top one-half percentile.
Individual schools can also nominate freshmen as Institutional Nominees.
Since 2001, 13 percent of freshmen lose their scholarship after one year. Seventy-six percent retain their scholarship through all four years of eligibility.
The program had been steadily losing money from its trust fund reserve since fiscal year 1999, dropping from $13.5 million to $1.3 million in FY2009, according to the report. Since then, enforcement of a state law limiting nonresident participation has cause the reserve to become stable at about $2 million.
Participation in ASP largely comes from the wealthy. According to the report, nearly 48 percent of participants did not apply for federal financial aid "indicating a lack of financial need or eligibility for federal student aid."
In addition to approving a variety of reports, state regents also took action on several items in their last meeting of the calendar year, including removing some state institution programs, approving incentives to increase science and mathematics teachers through the Teacher Shortage Employment Incentive Program and approving the allocation of nearly $1.5 million each to the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciencesand the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centerfrom revenue collected from cigarette and tobacco taxes.
___________________________________
KGOU produces journalism in the public interest, essential to an informed electorate. Help support informative, in-depth journalism with a donation online, or contact ourMembership department.
