State Provisions for
Scholarships and Fellowships

IN JUNE 1950, letters were sent to the chief State school officers in each of the States, Alaska, the Canal Zone, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, requesting information about legislative provisions for scholarships and fellowships to be awarded to students for use at either the publicly or privately supported higher educational institutions within the State (or Territory), or in another State. Specific information was received from all except Illinois, Mississippi, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, and Wisconsin. The following report has been compiled chiefly from the data thus submitted with supplementary material from other sources for the States not reporting directly to the Office of Education.

According to the replies received, the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, and Oklahoma, and the Canal Zone make no legal provisions for scholarships or fellowships. Nebraska, however, reported that certain scholarships are maintained by State funds, although not provided for by law.

State provisions for scholarships seem often to have been made to meet particular needs of the State for certain types of specialized personnel. Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin reported grants available to persons planning to become teachers or to in-service teachers wishing to study further. Mississippi, New York, and Vermont provide aid to prospective doctors of medicine. Such aid is usually granted in the form of a loan

which may be either canceled by service in the State or paid back with interest.

Some States grant aid to veterans. Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Utah reported provisions for financial assistance to the children of deceased or disabled veterans. Un-remarried widows of veterans are eligible for scholarship aid in Utah.

In a number of States, members of the legislature are privileged to appoint beneficiaries to scholarships. In other States, beneficiaries are selected by State boards of education, boards of regents, presidents of institutions, or upon the recommendation of county or district superintendents. Competitive examinations are also used, New York and Pennsylvania having State-wide programs. Ranking high-school graduates are eligible for scholarships in many States.

Several of the Southern States reported the contractual arrangements existing through their participation in the Southern Regional Education. plan. The need for providing better educational facilities than could be provided by the action of the States independently led to a meeting of the Governors of 14 Southern States in 1948. Later meetings culminated in the formation on June 11, 1949, of the Board of Control for Southern Regional Education. The broad function of the Board is to assist States and institutions and agencies concerned with higher education in their efforts to advance knowledge and to improve the social and economic level of the Southern region. The Board acts as a contracting agency among the States and institutions through which students and funds are exchanged in three professional fields-medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine. In the fall of 1949, there were 388 students enrolled under the regional contracts with 4 institutions providing services in veterinary medicine, 7 in medicine, and 6 in dentistry. By January 1951, the program had been approved, financed, and supported by Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Summarized below are the provisions made by law in the various States for extending educational opportunities to greater numbers of their citizens through scholarships and fellowships, as reported to the Office of Education.

ALABAMA

The State of Alabama appropriates $25,000 annually for scholarships to elementary teachers. This appropriation is allocated equally among the 5 State teachers colleges and is administrated by the presidents of these colleges except that not more than $100 a year or $25 a quarter may be given to an elementary teacher.

The State also appropriates $25,000 for regional education under which program the State board of education provides for residents of Alabama graduate and professional instruction not available to them at State-supported educational institutions. Since 1945, when the program was begun, the number of scholarships under the program has increased from 57 in 1945-46 to 129 in 1948-49.

ALASKA

Territorial scholarships are authorized by the Territorial legislature, covering room rent at the University dormitories for the period of 2 years next succeeding graduation at the annual commencement of any Territorial high school. To qualify for this scholarship, the student must have completed 4 years of high-school work in the Territory, must have the highest average standing in his class for all credits earned, and must present a certificate from the superintendent or principal to the effect that he is entitled to receive the benefits of the scholarship.

ARIZONA

The State of Arizona has no laws or provisions for scholarships.

ARKANSAS

A State Tuition Fund for Negroes was established by the State of Arkansas to enable Negro students to secure desired graduate or professional training provided in the State for white students, but not available for Negro students. The grants are administered by the State Board of Education and provide a maximum allowance of $312 per academic year.

CALIFORNIA

The State of California has made no provision in law for scholarships and fellowships to be supported at public expense.

CANAL ZONE

The Canal Zone has no system of scholarships. The Canal Zone Junior College is supported almost entirely by the Federal Government.

COLORADO

The statutes of Colorado make no provisions for scholarships or fellowships to be awarded to students for use at publicly or privately supported higher educational institutions within the State.

CONNECTICUT

The State of Connecticut has made legal provisions for three kinds of scholarships. One hundred scholarships of $300 each (which amount may in each case, however, be divided between two students) are offered for students attending the State teachers colleges. The awards are made on the basis of scholarship, general fitness, and need, with preference given to students planning to teach in the elementary grades of the State public schools. The scholarships are administered by the State Board of Education.

Scholarships are provided for any child, between the ages of 16 and 23 inclusive, whose parent died as a result of service in the United States' armed forces, and providing that the parent was a resident of Connecticut when inducted or that the child has resided in the State for 1 year. The grants are not to exceed $200 per year for each

beneficiary, and are to be used for tuition, matriculation fees, room, board, books, and supplies at any educational or training institution of college grade or any other institution of higher learning or commercial training, a teachers college, a vocational school or any accredited military preparatory school if such beneficiary is preparing to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point, the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, or a United States Coast Guard academy.

DELAWARE

The State of Delaware has appropriated varying sums to the State Board of Education, the University of Delaware, and to the Delaware State College. The State Board of Education has used its appropriation chiefly for grants of $200 for the winter session and $180 for the summer session to assist in-service teachers with less than college degrees to obtain those degrees. The University of Delaware awards 20 scholarships annually to students preparing to teach and who agree to teach in the public schools of the State for a period of at least 1 year after graduation.

FLORIDA

The State of Florida offers three types of scholarships for students who are training to become teachers or government workers in Florida. These grants are in the form of loans which are canceled at the rate of one per year for every year of government or teaching service performed by the recipient following graduation, or, if the graduate fails each year to perform this service, are repaid at the rate of 5 percent interest. For biennium 1949-51 the State appropriated $306,000 for distribution among the three types of scholarships: (1) The Lewis Scholarship, carrying an annual stipend of $400; (2) the Representative Scholarship, $200; and (3) the Senatorial Scholarship, $200. The first two are for students training to teach, and the third for those training for State or local government work. Holders of the Lewis Scholarship must attend a tax-supported university, whereas holders of the other two scholarships may attend either a State or an approved private college in Florida. Each year there are awarded 500 Lewis Scholarships, 380 Representative Scholarships, and 152 Senatorial Scholarships; however, each scholarship is renewable for 4 years, so that in any 1 year only about one-fourth of this total number are available for entering freshmen. The scholarships are alloted proportionately to senatorial districts. The Representative and Senatorial Scholarships are available to white or colored applicants recommended by the county scholarship committee, whereas 130 of the Lewis Scholarships are designated for use by Negro students only. The awards are made on the basis of a competitive examination in which applicants for the Lewis Scholarship compete with other recommended applicants of the same race from the given county, and applicants for the Representative and Senatorial Scholarships compete with other recommended applicants of the same sex from the same county or district.

GEORGIA

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia offers scholarships to Negro students for study at private colleges in Georgia or in out-of-State colleges in courses that are offered in the publicly-supported institutions for white students but that are not offered in the State institutions for Negro students. With the exception of fellowships awarded to certain graduate students by the University of Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology, the State makes no provision for the aid of white students attending institutions in Georgia or in other States.

HAWAII

The Territory has appropriated an annual sum of $2,880 to defray the expense of 24 scholarships, 4 for each of the 6 Territorial districts. These grants are available to students who would otherwise be unable to attend the university, and their holders

are exempted from the payment of tuition and registration fees at the University of Hawaii provided they maintain a high standard of scholarship and deportment. Each scholarship is renewable for 4 years, so that only one new award is available in each District each year, except when a scholarship is vacated, in which case the vacancy is filled by another qualified student of the same year in college. The scholarships are administered by the board of regents of the University of Hawaii.

IDAHO

The State of Idaho has made no provision by law for scholarships and fellowships to be awarded to students for use at either the publicly or privately supported higher education institutions within the State or in another State.

ILLINOIS1

The State of Illinois awards six types of scholarships, as follows:

County scholarships for children of veterans, University of Illinois.-Each county is entitled annually to one honorary scholarship in the University. This scholarship is designed for the benefit of the children of persons who served in the armed forces of the United States during the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Preference is given to children of such persons as are deceased or disabled. The trustees of the University may from time to time add to the number of honorary scholarships when in their judgment, such additions will not embarrass the finances of the University. These scholarships cover tuition and incidental fees and are granted upon public examination conducted by the Board of Trustees of the University to children not less than 15 years of age.

Military-school scholarships.-The board of county commissioners or board of supervisors of any county may appropriate a sum of money not to exceed $600 a year, for the support of a boy in any military school operating in the State which has been declared by the Governor to be a post of the Illinois National Guard. Candidates for these scholarships are selected through a competitive examination administered by the county superintendent of schools. Through this examination the scholarship is awarded to one boy while another is selected as an alternate. Graduates of the eighth grade, as well as high-school graduates, are entitled to take this examination.

Normal-school scholarships.-There is awarded annually to each recognized 4-year public and parochial high school with an enrollment of fewer than 500 students, one scholarship; to each such school with an enrollment of 500 to 1,000 inclusive, two scholarships; and to each such school with an enrollment of more than 1,000 students, three scholarships. Each of these scholarships entitles the holder to gratuitous instruction in any State normal school or teachers college for a period of 4 years, not to exceed $80 per year.

Veteran scholarships.-Any person who served in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States during World War I, not including members of the Students' Army Training Corps, or any time between Sept. 16, 1940, and the termination of World War II, who at the time of entering upon such service was a resident of Illinois, and who has been honorably discharged from such service, and who possesses all the necessary entrance requirements shall, upon application and proper proof, be awarded a scholarship to a State normal school or teachers college or the University of Illinois. The scholarships are good for 4 years and are not to exceed $80 per year for each student. These scholarships are to include those who served in World War II who at the time of entering service were enrolled at one of the above-named institutions.

County competitive scholarships, University of Illinois.—Each county of the State of Illinois is permitted to award annually one scholarship determined by competitive "Federal Scholarship and Fellowship Programs and Other Government Aids to Students." A report prepared in the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress. Printed for the use of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1950.