Baucus proposing free college tuition for math and science majors:

Sen. Max Baucus wants free college tuition for math and science majors as part of a $25 billion education incentives package that also includes help for rural teachers and more money for pre-kindergarten programs. Baucus, D-Mont., told The Associated Press he hopes to introduce his Education Competitiveness Act in the coming months.

The goal, he said in an interview last week, is to better prepare children for school and get more of them into college to make the United States more globally competitive, particularly with countries like China and India.
…
The first provision calls for providing a full scholarship to any high school graduate majoring in math, engineering, science or technology. The scholarship would apply to any university, but students must work or teach in a related field for at least four years after graduation to qualify, Baucus said. Another provision would create 25,000 merit-based scholarships for teaching students in those fields, with a similar caveat that they must teach in that subject for at least four years.

An interesting proposal. There has been quite a bit of talk the last few years about increasing government incentives to support students studying science, engineering and math. View the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act (COMPETES) Act, which, if I read the web site correctly, is now law (Public Law 110-69). The provisions include:

Requires the NSF Director, during the four-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, to expand the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program so that an additional 1,250 fellowships are awarded during such period to U.S. citizens, nationals, or lawful permanent residents. Authorizes appropriations.

That language was in the bill passed by the House. I can’t tell if it is in the law though.

Related: Graduate Scholar Awards in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math - ASEE Science and Engineering Fellowship Blog

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Education, The Economy, The National Interest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.