Mt. Vernon Register-News

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October 8, 2009

State rep speaks to RLC students

By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

INA — A legislator from Moline visited Rend Lake College Thursday afternoon to emphasize ways to keep students out of trouble and in school.

State Representative Mike Boland, who represents the 71st District, is the chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education. During a press conference, he outlined the foundation of a scholarship which he plans to introduce to the General Assembly next year — the Challenge Scholarship.

Boland’s plan would offer 30 credit hours of free tuition to high school students who fulfill a pledge to avoid arrest, suspension, drugs or alcohol abuse and maintain a C average throughout their high school career.

The plan would require eighth grade students to sign a pledge, along with their parents or guardians, and meet the challenges by the time they graduate high school.

“The challenge arose from my own personal life experiences ... and I thought I would go out and tour as many campuses as I can and pick your brains on how we can fund this outside of taxpayer (pockets),” he said.

Boland, who grew up in Davenport, Iowa, said he grew up in a “poor family, economically.” His father, he said, only possessed an eighth grade education and his mother, a sixth grade education.

And as a student, Boland, who began his early educational career with A’s and B’s, found his grades sliding as he began to focus more on extracurricular activities, rather than academics. Though he managed to average as a C student, he went on to college — finishing his bachelor’s degree in seven years.

“That seven-year struggle is part of what motivates me now,” Boland explained. “What we might think is easy — graduating high school.”

Boland also said the state has a 30 percent high school drop out rate. He added he hopes the criteria for the scholarship will challenge students to stay out of trouble and in school.

“(Young students) have a lot of temptations that can get them off the right path. There are self-destructive behaviors that hurt individuals, but also cause us a ton of money (if they end up in prison),” he remarked.

Boland has been touring college campuses throughout the state laying out his plans for the scholarship, seeking ideas to make the plan — and cost — better.

Revenue ideas to fund the scholarship include a $100 fee for all state court adjudications as well as seeking foundation and private donations.

Boland said he hopes to introduce the scholarship to legislators at the end of February, and have it passed and start signing pledges by next school year.

The scholarship would be an alternative for families who have exhausted search for other federal and state financial assistance, he said.

“This is aimed at the middle class and working poor,” Boland said. “The idea is to give them a foot in the door and keeping them out of trouble.”

According to Larry West, chief financial officer at Rend Lake College, student tuition at the college is $79 per credit hour and state averages are $100 a credit hour.

Boland also announced Thursday he does not plan to run for a ninth term in the Illinois House of Representatives, according to media reports in Moline, but he is expected to make a run for the Lt. Governor seat in the upcoming election. Illinois is without a Lt. Governor at this time and has been vacant since Gov. Pat Quinn replaced impeached Rod Blagoje-vich.

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