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Although the legislation has stalled twice in Congress, supporters of a bill that would increase scholarships for students pursuing public service believe federal staff shortages have helped build momentum for the idea.

In late July, Rep. David Price, D-N.C., introduced H.R. 3510,the 2009 Roosevelt Scholars Act, which would create scholarships for graduate students who vow to enter federal service in a kind of civilian ROTC program.

The bill, named after President Theodore Roosevelt, would create a fund to provide individual scholarships, up to $60,000 per academic year for a maximum of five years, for graduate students studying in a "mission-critical occupational area," as defined by government agencies. Those areas could include engineering, information technology, public health or foreign languages. In exchange for a scholarship, students would be required to complete at least one internship with the federal government, and agree to work for Uncle Sam for three to five years after their graduation. The amount of service required would be based on how many academic years the student received a scholarship.

This is the third time the legislation has been proposed in Congress. In 2008, Price introduced it as a stand-alone bill, and in March 2009 Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., offered it as an amendment to the 2009 Serve America Act. Neither the stand-alone bill nor the amendment came to a vote.

Supporters said the time is right for legislation that offers students scholarship money in exchange for federal service because the government needs a more robust workforce with a range of skills.

"This legislation is a very smart, cost-effective way to find the right talent," said Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. "This is still new legislation, and we're finding a groundswell of support."

The Partnership recently advocated reintroducing the bill when the nonprofit released a report revealing critical gaps in staffing for government cybersecurity jobs. The report stated that not only is the government not doing enough to recruit applicants qualified in cybersecurity and information technology, it also needed to cultivate such applicants at the college level.

"I would hope that we would see that this is a way of investing dollars smartly, for bigger returns," Stier said. "In the longer return, we're going to be helping our government be more efficient."

Price's legislation applies only to graduate students, while the Senate version offered by Bingaman in March would have applied to graduates and undergraduates.

John Palguta, vice president for policy at the Partnership, said the organization would support either idea, but the critical need in government is for graduate-level students.

"If you focus it on graduate [level], it makes the universe a little more manageable. And quite frankly, government increasingly seems to be recruiting graduate-level skills," Palguta said.

Congress has considered several changes to how federal scholarships are doled out, including a bill recently approved by the House Education and Labor Committee that would eliminate federally guaranteed loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program and turn them into direct, unsubsidized federal loans. That bill also would increase funding for Pell Grants and other types of scholarships.

"Clearly, there's a strong relationship between Roosevelt scholars and the broader need to provide scholarship assistance to students," Stier said.