News that Indiana’s successful 21st Century Scholars program is seriously underfunded is a signal that it’s time to reassess its goals, raising expectations and requiring more from students once they enter college. But any changes should preserve the commitment made to students so far.

The challenge, in essence, is that Indiana’s signature scholarship program has been a success. Its initial aims – to encourage students to enroll in college, reduce the high school dropout rate and increase opportunities for students from low-income families to attend college – have been realized:

•60 percent of Scholars are first-generation college students.

•79 percent of Scholars graduated from high school in 2006, compared to 76 percent of all Indiana students and 59 percent of students from low-income families.

•Scholars come from families with an average annual income of $25,842, compared to $62,178 for all students seeking financial aid.

In terms of an investment, Hoosier taxpayers have done well by the program, which was proposed by Gov. Evan Bayh in his 1990 State of the State speech and has served as a model for programs in Wisconsin and other states. From $2.5 million budgeted for the first Scholars entering college in 1996, the expense has grown to almost $66 million a year.

The cost is almost $30 million greater than lawmakers appropriated in the current two-year budget, requiring the shortfall to be met with money from need-based Frank O’Bannon grants.

In exchange for keeping a pledge to remain drug-, alcohol- and crime-free and earning a Core 40 high school diploma with a GPA of at least 2.0, 21st Century Scholars qualify for an award as a supplement to the need-based grant. It covers the difference between basic financial aid and full tuition and fees at a state university or a defined amount at an independent college or university.

Booming enrollment in 21st Century Scholars is one reason for the growing shortfall. Students initially enrolled as seventh- and eighth-graders, but enrollment was opened to sixth-graders in 2009, pushing current participation past 30,000.

Increasing college costs also have contributed to the shortfall, and the state program isn’t the only scholarship program financially strained. The Lilly Endowment recently announced that it would reduce the number of Lilly Scholars for each county in Indiana in 2011. The scholarship, which covers all college costs, was first awarded in 1998 when tuition and fees for each four-year scholarship recipient totaled just less than $50,000. For 2011, the four-year cost is estimated at $106,000.

Reducing the number of 21st Century Scholars is contrary to the spirit of the program, but state policymakers can still make adjustments while preserving the intent to make college accessible to deserving students. A set of recommendations was released Wednesday by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and the State Student Assistance Commission.

One concern is that a family’s financial condition might improve dramatically from the time the student enrolls as a sixth-grader and begins college six years later. Based on information from student aid applications, officials know that about 20 percent of students who enrolled as middle-school students would no longer qualify when they reached college age.

By the same token, there are high school seniors who would have qualified this year who were financially ineligible five years earlier.

Attempts over the years to open enrollment to those students have been resisted, however, in the interest of ensuring Scholars receive college readiness services and demonstrate commitment to the pledge.

In refining the program, the state should keep its promise to current enrollees, but make exceptions for future enrollees. If a parent wins the Powerball jackpot or comes into an inheritance, for example, the state could award a $2,000 stipend to the student in recognition of affirming his or her pledge.

The program could also be tightened with a higher GPA requirement and mandatory enrollment in dual credit or Advanced Placement courses that would provide a jump-start on a degree.

Indiana should look to adding college completion as a 21st Century goal. Figures show that Scholars are more likely than their low-income classmates to earn a diploma, but they are still less likely than students overall to graduate.

Universities and colleges have created programs to assist Scholars once they are enrolled, but required participation in support programs could make the program even stronger.

The 21st Century Scholars program has proven to be an effective college access program. It’s now time to turn it into an effective college success program.