Northhampton News

Gov. Tom Wolf has created a plan for the Nellie Bly Scholarship program, which would help students with their finances for higher education as well as bolster the state's workforce.

Members of the Wolf administration met with students and educators at Reading Area Community College (RACC) where they discussed the scholarship plan, Wolf's office said in a release. The plan seeks to make college possible for thousands of Pennsylvania students while also helping enhance the workforce in health care and education fields.

"The Nellie Bly Scholarship Program is of special importance to those students in Berks County, as it will help build strong, successful lives in their communities, rather than leave them struggling to pay student loan bills, often working two to three jobs to make ends meet for themselves and their families," RACC President Susan Looney said at the meeting.

The $200 million plan would go toward scholarships for students attending a community college or PA State System of Higher Education institution, Wolf's office said. The plan gives priority to students going to school to become mental health counselors, school nurses, psychologists, teachers, and other high-demand professions.

"For far too many Pennsylvania students, aspiring to attain a postsecondary education means being anchored down by a heap of student loan debt," state Rep. Manuel Guzman said at the RACC meeting. "The Nellie Bly proposal aims to alleviate this financial burden and encourage those to pursue their dream careers, while simultaneously ensuring the vitality of Pennsylvania's workforce. This would be a win-win scenario for our students, workforce, and institutions of higher education."

The scholarship would go toward student tuition and other costs of attendance, with a focus on helping students going for careers in public service, health care and education, which are currently the most sought after fields in Pennsylvania's workforce, Wolf's office said. In response to fields that were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan seeks to bolster employment in areas including home health care, acute care, behavioral health and long-term care.

"Pennsylvania students are already forced to take on outrageous amounts of debt to get a college degree," Eric Hagarty, Pennsylvania's acting secretary of education, said at the meeting. "This scholarship program will help make college a little bit more affordable for Pennsylvanians. And it will help put our entire commonwealth on the path to a better future."

The Nellie Bly Scholarship would be funded with federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act, as well as the Race Horse Development Trust Fund, Wolf's office said. Students who take part in the program need to live and work in Pennsylvania for the amount of time the scholarship was used.

"Many of our students struggle to meet the financial needs required to attend college. In turn, they pick up jobs, drop extracurriculars, or fall short of finishing their studies altogether," State Sen. Judy Schwank said at the meeting. "Under no circumstance should one's educational ambitions be deterred simply by the price of tuition. The Nellie Bly Scholarship Program would make a big investment in Pennsylvania's students and demonstrate that we believe in our state system schools. It's truly a worthwhile investment in the commonwealth's future leaders."