Mayor presents growing scholarship program

By Taylor Short/reporter3@trcle.com

Mayor Ken Shetter spoke about the Burleson Opportunity Fund and his vision for students at the Kiwanis Club of Burleson meeting Tuesday.

As the meeting began at noon, members and new guests dropped donations into a bucket and announced what they were thankful for.

Some said they’re thankful for the Burleson police officers and soldiers.

Others said they are thankful it’s Christmastime and for the guests that members brought.

Burleson Mayor Ken Shetter said he was thankful for being invited to speak about a program he admitted he is passionate about.

“The Burleson Opportunity Fund is a scholarship fund that we started about two years ago, and the whole point is to focus on those high school students that otherwise would not be headed to college,” he said. “And by doing that, we’re going to focus on some kids who might not be headed for high school graduation either.”

Shetter laid out the goals and benefits of the two-year-old program aimed at sending Burleson high school graduates to Hill College through scholarships that are simple to apply for.

“Within four years, our goal is to be able to say in Burleson that we have universal access to higher education in this community. It’s something that is really unheard of. It’s certainly unheard of that a community would commit to it in the way that we have,” he said.

Students from Burleson High School or Crossroads High School, students who are home schooled in Burleson and even students who attend school outside the city but live in Burleson are eligible.

Lana Perkins, who coordinates the program from Burleson High School, said the only requirements are maintaining the funding.

“The application process for the funding is strictly just an application; it’s not determined at that point by the number of hours they take,” she said. “Once they accept the scholarship, there are requirements that you have to enroll between 12 and 16 hours, you pass all your courses, and you have an eight-hour community service component.”

Students must also enroll in college the following fall, Shetter said.

Perkins said the amount given to students depends on how much money is available and how many students apply. The program can only fund the first year of tuition at this time, she said.

“There’s no means test for the program. We’re not going to make you prove that your parents are living under the poverty line and we do that for a couple of reasons,” Shetter said. “First of all, I don’t want there to be stigma attached to applying for the program. And secondly, I just want everybody to know that it’s easy to qualify for.”

Shetter said the daunting application process for scholarships makes them unattractive, but with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid as part of the Burleson Opportunity Fund process, students may qualify for federal funding instead.

The scholarships may only be used for tuition at Hill College, and Shetter said it’s important to keep students closer to home.

“These scholarships are funded primarily through the city, and it’s hard for me to make the connection to use city funds to fund scholarships to send kids out of town. So part of this program is not just the benefit that it has for the individuals seeking scholarships, but the benefit we receive as a community by growing the Hill College campus,” he said.

Shetter also said the community benefits by keeping those with no direction off the streets and behind a desk.

“Turns out that 18- to 24-year-old’s make up 10 percent of our population and commit 30 percent of our serious crimes,” he said. “I would go a step further and say that, of those 18- to 24-year-old’s that commit those serious crimes, none of them or very few of them are enrolled in college or have a good job. If we get those people in college and get them into the work force, they won’t be committing those crimes.”

The North Central Texas Council of Governments estimates that Burleson will have about 57,994 people and 11,882 jobs in about 15 years, which is why it’s important to create jobs in the city, Shetter said.

As far as funding the scholarships, Shetter proposes that the program be considered a economic development project after using $20,000 from the city gas fund as seed money for the first year.

“Just as much as, say 1/15 of our economic development resources, we might just be able to guarantee that everybody in Burleson has access to higher education. Think about that,” he said. “I’m talking about our 4A economic development fund, which is a half-cent sales tax fund. It’s money by statute that can only be spent on economic development programs.”

This year, the fund tripled its investment with $60,000 from the 4A economic development fund. Perkins said the application will be available online until noon on Jan. 8 at Burlesonisd.net.

“The state cares more about how many fourth-graders get the third question on the reading comprehension portion of the TAKS test right than they do how many kids we send to college,” Shetter said. “And I think that’s upside down, because what really matters? First it’s how many kids we graduate, then it’s how many kids we get to college.”