INDIANAPOLIS (AP): State officials are faced with coming up with millions of dollars to cover a big increase coming in the number of students in Indiana's 21st Century Scholars program.

The program that started in 1990 has promised low-income middle school students a full state college scholarship if they stayed out of criminal trouble and got acceptable grades.

The state Commission for Higher Education projects the program's cost will jump 45 percent to about $174 million next school year. More students graduating from high school this year are eligible, in part, because they could enroll when during the national recession.

Legislators have changed the program for new enrollees so that a student's financial means would be reviewed each year of college.