Children of veterans stuck with the bill after last-minute cuts to scholarships in NC
Children of veterans in North Carolina are paying an unexpected extra cost for college this semester after some unhappy news over Thanksgiving — their scholarship funding has been cut.
The North Carolina Scholarship for Children of Wartime Veterans funds eight semesters at in-state public, private or community colleges for children of “deceased, disabled, combat, or POW/MIA veterans.” In addition to tuition and fees, students who receive the scholarship are entitled to a room and board allowance.
At issue is a change the program saw in 2018-19, according to Larry Hall, secretary of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
“We already had more students this year than last year. Now we’re going to have even more, but we got less money,” Hall told McClatchy news group Friday. “That’s critical for people to understand: this is getting stretched both ways, this is not a static situation by any means.”
Students were told the week of Thanksgiving they’d only receive just over half of what universities initially projected for their room and board, according to WBTV, which first broke the story.
Hall said the TV station’s report was wrong when it said the DMVA hadn’t awarded any of the scholarship funds and “incorrectly described legislative budget cuts to the program.”
Under the current funding, students at public universities who received $3,200 for room and board during the 2018-19 academic year will now receive $1,825, according to the DMVA.
Students at community colleges who previously received $850 for room and board will now get $600.
The DMVA received $9.19 million annually to fund the program, Hall said in a statement Thursday. But last year, he said, the General Assembly allocated an extra $2.4 million to increase the room and board allowance.
Hall asked for the same level of funding from legislators for the 2019-20 academic year, according to the statement.
“Despite passing multiple priority funding bills throughout the summer and fall, legislators adjourned without providing additional funds for this program,” he said in the statement. “Recipient institutions were notified of the impact to room and board awards on November 25.”
Hall told McClatchy each university calculates its students’ needs differently depending on their various scholarships and other forms of financial aid.
Schools were accounting for the additional $2.4 million in funding when they estimated the semester bills for students who receive the Scholarship for Children of Wartime Veterans, he said. But they were warned in September that payments would be “delayed until further notice,” according to the DMVA.
It wasn’t until Nov. 22, when universities received a second letter from the DMVA, that they knew funding would come up short.
“The department will pay tuition and fees as outlined in G.S. 143B-1225 and will reduce payments to room and board, as allowed in G.S. 143B-1227(c), in order to fund required tuition and fee payments,” the letter states.
In Thursday’s statement, Hall said legislators — including Republican House Speaker Rep. Tim Moore — had promised to provide the extra funding.
“Ultimately, Senate Majority Leader and Appropriations Chairman Harry Brown informed DMVA staff that the funding would only be provided in exchange for legislative Democrats joining Republicans in overriding the budget veto,” he said.
But Republicans have accused the DMVA and Gov. Roy Cooper of withholding funds for the scholarship intentionally.
Republican Sen. Phil Berger said on Facebook on Friday the department “has had $9.2 million sitting in an account since July 1” and “distributed $0, leaving veterans’ kids unable to sign up for classes next semester or pay their bills.”
But the DMVA has already paid private and community colleges for the fall semester, Hall said in Thursday’s statement. All but two public universities in the UNC System, which haven’t submitted final invoices, have also received payment.
Republican state Sen. Danny Britt suggested Cooper washolding the money “hostage ... in an effort to gain political advantage.”
“The DMVA has claimed for weeks that the delay in funding for the scholarships was because of the budget impasse. The $9.2 million in scholarship funds was recurring money, meaning no matter what happened with the budget, the department could spend it. The money has been sitting in the department’s account since July 1, 2019,” Britt said in a press release Friday.
In a letter to Britt on Dec. 3, Hall said “it is false that the department is withholding funds intended for scholarships,” saying legislators were “playing politics with funds for students.”
The UNC-System Board of Governors has asked schools participating in the scholarship program “to provide flexibility and avoid penalizing these needy students while we work with the General Assembly to identify a long-term funding solution.”
“It’s incredibly disappointing that the Cooper administration waited until November to notify recipients that they were reducing the North Carolina Scholarship for Children of War-Time Veterans,” board chairman Randy Ramsey said in a statement Friday. “The children of wartime veterans should not be used as political pawns for budget negotiations.”
Rep. David Lewis, a Harnett County Republican, said in a tweet, “There is no excuse for the Dept of Military and Veterans to be holding these funds — #NCGA already provided the funds needed. These scholarships should not be cut — these families have already sacrificed so much for our country. They deserve better.”
The governor’s office told McClatchy news group in a statement Friday Cooper is still urging legislators to provide the additional funding.
“Students eligible for Children of Wartime Scholarships and their families have earned them, and it’s deeply disappointing to see legislators refuse to fully fund these awards,” spokesperson Ford Porter said.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 5:57 PM.
