Nebraska

"Students from low-income families pursuing a college degree will continue having access to a grant program funded in part through lottery gaming in Nebraska."

"College students in need would continue to have access to state grants under a compromise lawmakers reached Thursday over how Nebraska should use its lottery proceeds over the next five years. If the deal survives two more rounds of voting by the Legislature and is approved by the governor, it would essentially hold funding steady for the Nebraska Opportunity Grant, which provided an average of about $1,000 to nearly 16,000 students enrolled in Nebraska colleges and universities last year."

"Endangered programs providing grants and scholarships to low-income Nebraska students are the focus of the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education's budget priorities. The Access College Early (ACE) grant, which paid for 1,700 qualifying students to earn college credits last year, will lose $285,000 in U.S. Department of Education funding next August. ACE Plus, which provides scholarships to college freshmen and sophomores who successfully completed the ACE program, is set to lose $300,000 in federal funding. Meeting Tuesday, the Coordinating Commission approved asking the Legislature to appropriate a total of $600,000 in state general funds for both programs, as well as increase the funding in both by $100,000 over the next two years."

"The 11-district cooperative in the Omaha area originally lacked explicit authority for programs targeting children under age 5. State law called for programs aimed at elementary-age children. Nebraska lawmakers this month gave the education cooperative new spending authority and authorized expansion into early childhood education for children in poverty."