Here at Scholarships Around the U.S., we stay out of the politics and report on the issue. This week, a controversial bill in California is due for signing or veto on governor Schwarzenegger’s desk by the end of the month.

SB 160 gives illegal aliens the right to apply for financial aid from the state. Here’s a word from some opponents of the bill:

“We have a crumbling infrastructure, a failing educational system, a collapsing public health system,” said FAIR spokesman Ira Mehlman, “and California legislators spend most of their time dreaming up public benefits for illegal aliens”.

Rosa Perez, chancellor the San Jose-Evergreen Community College district had this to say:

“These kids, for all intents and purposes, are American kids,” We’ve got to help them. If we ignore them, we’ll undereducate them and they’ll remain on the margins. That’s a loss to the country.”

The California bill is similar to the federal DREAM Act, which will allow illegals aliens to apply for federal student aid and then provides them a path to become actual U.S. citizens. This federal solution seems like a reasonable compromise.

In a related issue, most illegal aliens are immigrants from Mexico…so if you are of Mexican descent, you may be eligible for hispanic scholarships.

An AP article in the Belleville New Democrat informs us of the Governor of Illinois signing a new law to provide middle and low-income students with $500 grants.

[The bill] provided $34.4 million for the new middle-income grants and the same amount for more relief for low-income students.

Any new laws helping students is a great accomplishment. But there may be a better way using government to help pay for state colleges and universities. Can’t we stop the problem before it starts? Are there any politicians raising this issue. Of course…the one who lost the election, how appropriate.

Blagojevich’s Republican opponent in the governor’s race, state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, criticized the governor’s record on keeping tuition costs down.

“Under Rod Blagojevich, tuition for students at Illinois colleges and universities has increased more than 50 percent in less than four years. It is the largest tuition increase ever for an Illinois governor,” Topinka said in a written statement.

Not to single out Illinois, but the actual nationwide tuition rate increase from 2000-2005 was 40%, according to the College Board. It’s a national trend, and students have no choice but to pay it if they want higher education or a degree as a job and resume credential.

An AP article details the medical doctor supply in Idaho.

About 90 percent of Idaho qualifies as a “health professional shortage area,” according to federal guidelines.

That’s a lot of demand. To remedy this problem the state Office of Rural Health awards $220,000 per year to medical facilities, some of which go to clinicians for student loan repayment.

The lure of bonus money to relieve student loan debt is often not enough to get someone to move to a small town and become a family doctor.

Dr. Rob Wolfe said part of his inspiration to work in a rural area was attending the funeral of his grandfather, who worked as a doctor in a Wisconsin farming town.

“There were thousands of people coming in and they said, ‘You don’t know what he did for me,’ and ‘He delivered me,’ and ‘He delivered my kids,”‘ Wolfe said. “It struck me that you can make a big impact on people’s lives.”

A nice resource to check out would be the National Health Service Corps, which provides up to $50,000 of loan assistance for doctors that work in qualified rural areas for two years.

The Emerald Coast Community website has some positive news for Florida college students. Get this:

During the 2006-07 school year, the state aims to award more than 30,000 full-time eligible students approximately $47 million in new Academic Competitiveness (AC) and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) grants worth between $750 and $4,000 per student.

That’s a nice jolt of cash from the government. 30,000 students is like the population of a large state university. Also, many grants are for small amounts, not even coming close to the $4000 limit for these extra AC and SMART grants.

If the government is going to spend money, why not give it to intelligent students who have a high chance of creating wealth in Florida and United States’ economies. With the average college tuition increasing many times over the cost of inflation, all forms of financial aid should be increased by federal and state governments just to keep the students’ financial burdens at a level playing field.

You may have seen the Ben Stiller movie, ‘Along Came Polly’, where the protagonist had a job as a risk assessment expert. The details of the job were a little exaggerated of course, but this profession is certainly real and important; mostly to companies in the business of:

• insurance
• health
• retirement
• finance

These risk experts are also called actuaries. I decided to check out if there are any education grants for students studying in the field of risk management and assessment.

Here is a list of some colleges that offer grant and/or scholarship programs for students interested in actuarial science.

• The University of Nebraska at Lincoln
• Illinois State University
• The University of Iowa
• Ball State University
• The University of Texas at Austin

A great resource to check out to learn more about this profession would be the Society of Actuaries