It is no coincidence that The Sun reports that Maryland's top students lose $1 million in college scholarships ( "Seniors stunned by Md. scholarship cuts," May 11) at the same time the O'Malley administration will commit a similar sum to in-state tuition breaks ("O'Malley signs tuition break") for illegal immigrants.

Perhaps Gov. Martin O'Malley can explain why his administration waited until now to inform Maryland students that the funds for the scholarships have been eliminated — presumably due to money not being available. Am I the only who believes that if people had been aware of this transfer of money during the legislative session the bill would not have passed?

Mr. O'Malley's comment when signing the bill is certainly disingenuous, if not insulting for Maryland citizens and particularly for scholarship students: "This will allow us to have a more highly educated workforce." The current administration apparently considers the education of its illegal immigrant student population a higher priority than Maryland's students.

Charles Herr, Perry Hall