Kentucky college students get aid from a unique partnership

VERSAILLES, Ky. (FOX 56) — You’ve probably heard of the program known as “call before you dig.” It tries to avoid potentially serious accidents, and now it’s helping students succeed.

Brian Sizemore is in the heavy equipment program at Hazard Community & Technical College. Thanks to a partnership between the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) and the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC), students like Sizemore can use money from a new $66,000 annual scholarship fund.

“I could really use it. I do work, but it’s really going to help with buying supplies like boots and pants. Some of this stuff is kind of expensive, so it’s really going to help with that,” Sizemore said.

It’s called the 811-damage prevention scholarship, also known as the ‘call before you dig’ program. It’s funded through penalties from those who didn’t call Kentucky 811 before digging, which can lead to property damage and potentially digging into gas lines. PSC chair Angie Hatton said this is the best way to use these funds to help students, while promoting the message of safe digging.

“Rather than just have this be a punitive thing that the penalties are paid as punishment, it’s really nice to see that money going to a really positive thing in that it’s going to help our future workforce,” Hatton said.

KCTCS president Dr. Ryan Quarles said this is the perfect way to blend these two missions, with students being the example of why safe digging and damage prevention is crucial in their future line of work.

“One thing we learned was that a lot of folks don’t call before they dig, and for our graduates, they need to do that while they’re out there building Kentucky. For us, we’re using penalty fees that are fined on folks who unfortunately don’t call before they dig, and we’re using that money to convert it into a scholarship fund to help our students,” Quarles said.

More information on Kentucky 811 can be found here.