SPECTRUM: Cuts to PFD will affect education

I was born and raised in Anchorage; have attended Anchorage Public Schools my whole life; and will be graduating from Dimond High School this spring. I am also anticipating attending UAA next fall.

In preparing for financial reality of this choice, a lot of thought has been given to HOW to pay for college? Grants, loans, scholarships and/or savings are all options many of my peers are discussing. These discussions have led to what is available to students in Alaska? The Alaska Performance Scholarship is one program that every student has the ability to qualify for through need and performance. In researching this specific scholarship; I was stunned to learn that the Majority in the Legislature want to eliminate it. The program would be defunct by 2022, costs about $11 million a year and the money comes from the Higher Education Investment Fund which as of last session held over $400 million. The Majority wants to use this money instead to pay state pensions for contributions they neglected to make over the last several years. Why should students pay the price for lack of planning or not paying their bills, on the part of the Majority?

Then the Alaska PFD savings accounts were discussed as a means to pay for college. UAA was a school that parents were able to pre-purchase credit hours in a 529 account at that year’s tuition rate to be used in the future. This is great for students whose families chose that option. What about the families that count on the PFD their children should receive annually to support their families? Many of my peers are in this group. They have always known their parents needed to use this money for the family. There are many students like me; whose parents were divorced and a parent was court ordered to save their child’s PFD every year for their college education. I thought I was one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately, I was to discover that my college fund I assumed safe and growing for 12 years was actually a fictional one. Although the court thought my money was protected, it wasn’t, and now as a high school senior I am scrambling for ways to pay for college.

I am an above average student and studying to retake my SAT and ACT tests in hopes of applying for alternative scholarships. Competition is fierce for academic scholarships so I am really counting on the Alaska Performance Scholarship being an option.

The Alaska PFD being cut in half will also impact me along with many other students and their families. I had hoped to save this year’s to help with tuition next fall. Then, while trying to determine the amount needed to pay tuition and books; I learn that UAA is looking at increasing tuition by as much as 100% due to the loss in funding from the State; again the Legislature. This is the same Legislature who has held up higher education as a goal all students should reach for. If this education is only available to very low income students who qualify for grants or very smart students who receive scholarships or students from families with a high income bracket; what happens to a student like me when college expenses shoot through the roof? What happens when the only opportunities to offset those expenses are done away with?

My point in writing this letter? To remind Alaskans who are able to vote to remember education funding as a priority and to remember those who benefitted in the past from the Alaska Performance Scholarship, not just the recipients but the communities they live and work in. To remind Alaskans that there is a generation who isn’t old enough to vote but who still want a future in Alaska, including a college education and career; that we are worth saving Alaska for. Please vote on behalf of my generation this November; WE ARE that future everyone keeps talking about.