The Public Education Foundation was proud to host Representative Susie Lee and community education leaders on Friday for a roundtable discussion discussing a new bipartisan bill that would address the rising costs of higher education and provide more assistance to students in need.

Participants on the panel represented the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, the College of Southern Nevada, Earn to Learn Arizona, Fulfillment Fund Las Vegas, Leaders in Training, Nevada State College, the Nevada System of Higher Education, the Nevada Treasurer’s Office, and the University of Nevada, Reno. 

The Earn to Learn Act, which Representative Lee introduced in the House of Representatives on June 24, 2021, establishes a college matched-savings program. With Earn to Learn, qualifying students and their families can deposit $500 into a savings account each year, then receive an 8:1 match through combined university support and other public and private funding. This creates $4,500 per academic year in available funds for tuition, books, fees, and other approved educational-related expenses.

This legislation is modeled off of Arizona’s successful Earn to Learn program, which has a nearly decade-long track record helping underserved and underrepresented students access and complete a college education. With our extensive history of scholarship administration through the Scholarships PLUS program, we are proud to support this legislation that will help more students attend college and graduate prepared for success, with little to no student loan debt.