The 21st Scholars Program pays for four years of college for qualifying Hoosier students. However, students must enroll in 7th or 8th grade. Many times, when families learn about the program, it is when their children are in high school and have missed the deadline.

The Legislative Black Caucus and the Indiana Latino Institute have continued to push for automatic enrollment for qualifying students. Even Governor Holcomb has shared support for automatic enrollment.

This legislative session has not been as contentious as it was last year when groups who tend not to agree on issues pulled together to defeat legislation around eliminating CRT in schools, which those groups maintain does not exist in schools.

Hopefully, the step away from battles like those can allow our lawmakers to focus on legislation that will make an impact.

A student shouldn’t have college slip away because of a missed middle school deadline.