4,000 sign up for millennium scholarships

More than 4,000 students have signed up to receive Nevada's Millennium Scholarships.

According to State Treasurer Brian Krolicki, who manages the program, that represents 60 percent of those eligible for the program created by Gov. Kenny Guinn and the 1999 Legislature.

The Millennium Scholarships are paid by tobacco settlement money. The program provides up to $10,000 over four years for every student graduating a Nevada High School with a B-average or better. The money is available to those students who attend one of Nevada's two universities or five community colleges.

"Krolicki said 4,291 students will receive the scholarship money out of 7,184 who were eligible last fall.

Krolicki said 60 percent was the first-year goal of the program.

"All of us involved with the administration of this historic program are celebrating the tremendous response form high school students across the state," he said.

"Their lives will be positively impacted by achieving a college education," said Guinn. "And our state will benefit by having a better educated workforce."