Statewide budget shortfalls are hurting school districts nationwide, but here in Nye County private citizens have the opportunity to help aspiring students under the new "Adopt a Student" program.

Through "Adopt a Student," private citizens or companies can help high school students earn college credits by helping fund dual-credit courses at Great Basin College.

Funds donated to the program will supplement the Dollars for Scholars program which serves the same purpose.

The Adopt a Student program is needed because Dollars for Scholars is funded by the county with interest it makes off an endowment fund.

The county's endowment fund uses payment equal to taxes money the county receives from the state for the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository.

To make a complex and bureaucracy-laden story brief, Dollars for Scholars is a little short on the needed cash (although the school district and the county are working on a way to solve the situation).

So the Great Basin College advisory board devised a way to keep the highly-successful dual-credit program alive.

The Nye County Communities Coalition also stepped up to the plate and agreed to act as the program's fiscal agent.

Under the program, a person or company can donate $200 to fund one student's tuition for one semester, $400 to fund one student for one year, or $800 to fund two years worth of courses.

With a little help from the community, "A motivated student could complete 21 college courses toward a baccalaureate or associate's degree before they graduate," Verbeck explained.

"I'd go on the line and say we have the strongest dual-credit program in the state of Nevada," he added. There are some requirements for students to qualify for the program, however they are not based on a student's financial standing.

The student must be a junior or senior in high school, have maintained a 3.0 grade-point average and register for college courses that will supplement a future college career (in other words, general education courses as opposed to electives like ballroom dancing).

"It's so critical to jump-start juniors and seniors on their college education," Verbeck said. "The college is very, very committed to the dual credit program and we continue to refine it every year."

To adopt a student, contact Stacy Smith at the Nye Communities Coalition at 775-727-9970.

Donations can also be mailed to NCC at 2280 E. Calvada Blvd., Pahrump, NV 89048. "Adopt a student" must be written on the memo line of any checks.