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by Jack Bartlett
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KEARNEY, Neb. — A perfect test score earns a full ride scholarship to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for a Kearney teen who got the high score on the ACT.
"It's super special to me," Drew Welch, a senior at Kearney High, said. "I was super happy when they came out with scores."
Welch worked tirelessly and studied and practiced the ACT over the last four years to achieve this goal.
"It was a good amount," Welch said. "I mean I did it for my last attempt and I did it through the summer, and my parents encouraged me too."
Welch will now earn a full ride scholarship at a time the University system says is crucial to recruit high-achieving students.
"I think it sends a really positive message to the state that all academic excellence because you know we have the program called Regents Scholars which are also high performing students, and we put between $40-45 million a year into that program to wave tuition for Nebraskans to make college not only affordable but to retain them in the program," Dr. Jeffrey Gold, the University of Nebraska President, said.
The University of Nebraska system currently faces over $30 million in budget cuts as proposed by Governor Jim Pillen. Pillen’s budget released last week calls for a 2% cut in operating funds.
The proposal also wants to take $11 million of NU’s tobacco settlement money.
Dr. Gold says this is bad news for the university.
"Was I thrilled when I read the documents? No," Dr. Gold said. "Of course not. Do I think that higher education, particularly public higher education, is critically important to the state and needs to be invested in? I absolutely do… We looked back over 10 or 11 years. We've reduced the University of Nebraska budget by over $125 million and there's another easily $14-15 million that will come out of the university budget before this academic year is over."
Welch plans to enroll at UNL in the fall after graduating from Kearney High in May. Dr. Gold also said he and the other Board of Regents members are fighting back against Governor Pillen’s proposed budget and are hopeful they can find a solution to these issues.
