I’ve become aware over the last week or so that students at The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science are being asked to pay $500 a semester to cover room and board. I have exactly three reactions to this:

1. It would have been worth $2,000 to my parents to send me there over two years. If nothing else, I probably shaved a year off of college, and that was worth $2,000. Plus, it was one of the best experiences of my life.
2. I know a lot of folks that I went to school with would not have been able to afford this at all. Yes, as the Commercial Dispatch notes, there are waivers for those MSMS students who come from very poor families, but there is a group of students that would be left behind in that case, and as an alumnus, that saddens me greatly.
3. If this really goes into effect, I’ll give $1,000 a year to the MSMS Foundation to offset the cost, and I challenge my fellow alumni to give as well.

Now, I don’t live in Mississippi anymore, but I have family that does, and so do my friends that are also alumni. I really hope that they’ll all get involved, and frankly, I really hope that Doug takes this and runs with it as a member of the media. Big brother, if you need help finding a local student who would be affected by this, I can absolutely put you in touch with the right folks to find out.