This week, Carolina Journal’s Lindsay Marchello reported on the current budget impasse and its potential impacts on grants for North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics graduates. Marchello writes:
In 2018, the General Assembly authorized a tuition grant program for graduates of NCSSM, a public, residential high school specializing in science and mathematics instruction. Under the program, NCSSM graduates receive full tuition reimbursement when they enroll in a UNC system school for their first year.
Funding for tuition grants for the classes of 2018 and 2019 are being held up in the ongoing budget stalemate.
According to Marchello:
Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the $24 billion budget on June 28 and since then the governor and the General Assembly have been locked in a stalemate. Cooper wants Medicaid expansion to be a part of any budget, but Republican leaders in the General Assembly refuse to expand the federal-state insurance program as part of the budget process.
Marchello reports, for the most part, UNC has solved the immediate problem this causes for the NCSSM graduates:
The state budget impasse won’t affect recent college-bound graduates of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. University of North Carolina system leaders announced Thursday, Aug. 15, they have found a temporary funding source to provide tuition grants to the more than 170 graduates of NCSSM.
…While the particulars of where the funding will come from are still in the works, UNC System leaders know that approximately $1.1 million in funds promised to 176 students enrolled in UNC schools is available.
Read the full story here. Stay up-to-date on the budget impasse here.
