[x] Cooperation: Accept the RAND proposal, and thereby allow the Department of Defense to fund the scholarships in part, establishing a secure funding stream that ought to last anything barring a Second Depression. The catch is that the public-awareness angle will gravitate towards energy security and independence rather than pure climate-change awareness. The different means from this path might lead to the same end, though. Perhaps.
[X] Go It Alone: Set up the EPA scholarships as planned, the funding locked in for eight years. This allows you to slant the direction of U.S. environmental education projects to some extent, and you're beholden to nobody.