Wyoming’s Hathaway Scholarship may be undergoing some changes this year if House Bill No. 0133 is signed into law.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Harshman and co-sponsored by Reps. Brown, Paxton and Senators Anderson, Anselmi-Dalton, Boner, Pappas and Rothfuss, could expand scholarship funds to out of state students. It passed unanimously in a House committee vote in the Wyoming House of Representatives on Jan. 18 but would have to pass in the full House and Senate to be officially enacted.
According to the state of Wyoming Legislature website, the Hathaway Expand Wyoming Scholarship bill will provide a scholarship to two students from contiguous states to Wyoming. This will potentially provide a second scholarship, though far more competitive, to out of state students coming to UW besides the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE).
WUE ensures that students from eligible states pay no more than 150 percent of in-state tuition rates instead of out-of state tuition, which is as much as double in-state costs at some schools.
Unlike WUE, Hathaway funds are distributed only by Wyoming. Since the Hathaway scholarship program’s creation in 1974, Hathaway scholarships are only given to Wyoming residents.
The Branding Iron reached out to UW’s Financial Aid Office, which had no comment on the bill under consideration.
“Hathaway expand Wyoming scholarship recipients shall be selected by a committee comprised of the governor, state superintendent of public instruction, president of the University of Wyoming and executive director of the community college commission, or their designees,” the bill says.
Students applying must meet all requirements of the Hathaway Honors Scholarship excluding those that place the student in the state of Wyoming for their High School education.
“A minimum cumulative high school GPA of 3.75 and a score equal to or greater than the 2015‑2016 national percentile rank of ninety‑six (96) on an examination administered throughout the United States and relied upon by institutions of higher education to determine acceptance of students for attendance” the bill says.
The monetary value of the scholarship is the amount of attendance at the eligible college of the students choosing, but cannot exceed the maximum value of the Trustees Scholarship.
After completing their schooling in Wyoming the student is expected to work in Wyoming one year for every four semesters the scholarship was received or attend grad school in Wyoming. An alternative is to pay back the scholarship including interest that accumulates four years after receiving the scholarship. Interest will match that of the Federal Student Loan interest rate at that time and be evaluated every year. The bill also includes that the interest rate will never exceed 8 percent, and all payments made go back into the scholarship fund for future recipients.
Hathaway expand Wyoming scholarships cannot be awarded until the state treasurer certifies to the board of education that the balance of the scholarships account is at or exceeding $5 million.
The Hathaway Scholarship currently offers scholarships only to Wyoming High School students and has four tiers: Honors, Performance, Opportunity and Provisional. Respectively they offer maximums of $1,680, $1,260 and $840 for both Opportunity and Provisional.
