CHEYENNE (WNE) —  While the Wyoming Community College Commission has only one major supplemental budget request, it also appealed to state lawmakers Friday to fund the Wyoming’s Tomorrow Scholarship Program. 

Gov. Mark Gordon recommended $35 million go toward the program in his 2023-24 supplemental budget, which would help meet the $50 million threshold for scholarships to start being awarded. 

Wyoming’s Tomorrow Scholarship was signed into law by Gordon following the 2022 budget session, with a $10 million appropriation to the endowment fund from the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account. 

Another $5 million will still need to be awarded to the fund if the Wyoming Legislature appropriates the $35 million during the upcoming general session, but Gordon hopes private partners will have the opportunity to contribute. 

The commission supported the governor’s request in the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee meeting Friday. The money would go toward a program designed for nontraditional students.

To qualify, students must be 24 or older, have not earned a bachelor’s degree and not be eligible for a Hathaway Scholarship, as well as register with the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services for applicable training assistance. 

They will have to repay the scholarship amounts received, which will go back into the Wyoming’s Tomorrow Scholarship expenditure account. 

“It’s about the economic vitality of our state,” said WCCC Executive Director Sandy Caldwell, as she advocated for the program. “We know that this will help provide a trained workforce when you’re talking about the certificate and the associate degree level. We also know that the bachelor’s degree begins to create new business and industry in your state.”