Lawmakers on the House Education Committee voted Wednesday to revamp a proposed last-

dollar scholarship program to include students attending private colleges.

The move will greatly expand the number of students who could benefit through House Bill 2084.

The PA Promise scholarship program that would be created through the legislation would be designed to cover the cost of tuition after all other types of financial aid.

“We’ve promised young people that education is the elevator out of poverty, and yet we’ve given far too many of them a broken elevator,” Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, told the Education Committee.

Under House Bill 2084, in-state students from families with income less than $250,000 a year would be eligible for scholarships covering the cost of tuition at state-related or state-owned universities. Students in families with income less than $60,000 would also be eligible for scholarships to cover the cost of room and board. Prior to Wednesday’s change, the legislation only proposed scholarships for students attending the state’s public universities.

There are about 150,000 in-state students attending Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and the 14 colleges in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, based on college enrollment data. The state’s nonprofit private colleges and universities enroll about 139,500 in-state students.

It’s not exactly clear how many students would meet the income qualifications, but only about 8% of Pennsylvania households have income exceeding the $250,000 cap in the bill.

The legislation also covers the roughly 235,000 students attending the 15 community colleges in Pennsylvania.

Lawmakers have not put a price tag on the bill. That bothered Republican lawmakers who said they could not support the legislation without knowing the cost.

But Democrats defended the measure and said it is becoming increasingly important as college costs increase and federal assistance for college students is getting cut.

Several lawmakers said that they doubt they would have been able to attend college if they were graduating from high school today.

“A kid like me from a waitress mom, who moved 11 times in my first 16 years, wouldn’t have been able to go to college or law school,” said Rep. Tarah Probst, D-Monroe.

“We need to make sure that these kids have an opportunity to be educated if that’s what they want to do.”

Rep. Sue Gleim, R-York, in questioning the cost, said “working class” taxpayers would be footing the bill for the scholarships.

Harris responded that working class residents will benefit from the program too.

“Working class skilled laborers also send their kids to school, who are taught by teachers who went to college. Working class skilled laborers also go to hospitals and are seen by nurses and those nurses have to go to school,” Harris said.