Close to 700 Kentucky National Guard members in danger of losing tuition assistance next semester will see that support restored. Gov. Matt Bevin announced Monday during a Kentucky Chamber event in Lexington that every school president in the state has agreed to cover the shortfall this spring -- with the promise of reimbursement.
With Kentucky Guard members returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, the tuition aid program had exceeded the $5.3 million previusly allotted by the General Assembly. Bevin said the solution won unanimous support from all parties.
"It's done. Not one person squeaked about this," he told reporters. "It's truly the first great bipartisan effort. It really was."
Bevin said the state will repay the universities by one of two possible avenues.
"If we are able by statute to reallocate existing dollars, that's what we will do. If for some reason we are not able to do it that way, then yes it will done legislatively," the governor promised.
Should the state fail to find existing dollars within the Adjutant General's budget, both Republican leaders in the Senate and Democratic leaders in the House have pledged their support.
