Scholarship match

The Legislature last year ignored a commendable public-private scholarship plan in favor of a proposal by retiring Speaker Elizabeth Mitchell. Yet only a sliver of the speaker’s bill survived the session, so the hurdle of affording college stands as high as ever for Maine students. Fortunately, lawmakers will have another chance this session to pass a version of the first scholarship bill.

Actually, two chances. Senate President Mark Lawrence and Rep. Tina Baker have similar proposals to establish endowment funds for the University of Maine System, the Technical College System and Maine Maritime Academy. Both would use bond money (Rep. Baker’s is for $14 million; Sen. Lawrence’s, $15 million) to match dollar for dollar funds raised by these academic institutions. The one-time bond money, private fund-raising and accumulated interest would form permanent endowments for the schools.

One difference between the two bills is that Sen. Lawrence’s plan raises money only for scholarships; Rep. Baker’s allows the money to be used for “academic purposes,” including scholarships, professorships, repair of classrooms or acquisition of equipment for classrooms. Lawmakers can debate whether the money is best spent on these items or on reducing tuition solely (the Lawrence proposal would fund annually an estimated 1,500 scholarships, each worth $1,000). The important thing is to back one of these proposals.

A matching endowment is a good idea because it forces the schools to rely on donors — most likely, alumni — to support the endowment. Schools will have to hustle and alumni will have to believe that a school was a good investment before the state money arrives. The match also provides an incentive to alumni to give more than they otherwise would.

Maine would not be the first state to offer matching money as a way to raise more private dollars for higher education. The mechanism has been popular in the South since the mid 1980s and came to New England a few years ago. Connecticut was the first to try it, and raised more than $10 million. Massachusetts raised $23 million in a matching program in 1997.

Though the legislation is targeted to attract alumni money, improving access to these institutions should be of interest to all Maine residents. Providing lower-cost access to financially strong schools vastly increases the chance that Maine will grow as a state and economically. The match forces the schools to do their share of fund raising, too.