Missouri Senate Passes Scholarship Bill

On Thursday, the Missouri Senate passed the Higher Education Bill (HB1865) which would, among other things, create a new scholarship as described below:

The Access Missouri Scholarship Program is established to provide
assistance to college freshmen who are not eligible for the A+
Program or have chosen institutions not covered by the A+
Program. The maximum award will be $1,000. The new program, as
well as the Gallagher, Guarantee, and Bright Flight programs, has
a 2.5 grade point average requirement for renewal. The 2.5
initial qualifying grade point average and extracurricular
activity for the Guarantee Program are eliminated. Obsolete
language is deleted, and the Gallagher Program's criminal
background disqualifications are changed to be the same as those
in the Guarantee Program.

The bill appropriates about $10 million which would allow as many as 10,000 students to take advantage of the scholarship.

A tuition and student fee increase limitation based on the federal
Consumer Price Index for state four-year institutions is also imposed by this bill.

The bill, as amended, will go to a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions.

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