More students eligible for Access Missouri awards

By Ettie Berneking

Published Sept. 14, 2007

Students who were awarded the Access Missouri Scholarship will receive less money for school than expected, but more students will receive the scholarship, according to the Missouri Department of Higher education.

Leroy Wade, the department assistant commissioner for financial assistance, said the total number of applicants for the scholarship surpassed the department's expectations by 20 percent. He said the amount of each award will be cut by 30 percent.

For students at a public four-year university, this means a drop from $2,150 to $1,500, Wade said.

Wade said the department allots $74 million for the scholarships, three times the amount reserved for need-based scholarships before the program was approved.

The Missouri General Assembly approved the Access Missouri Scholarship Program as part of an omnibus education bill in May. Gov. Matt Blunt proposed the scholarship and promoted it at MU in March.

The purpose of the Access Missouri Scholarship Program, which took effect on Aug. 28, was to replace two existing need-based scholarships, MU spokesman Christian Basi said.

The bill has broader selection criteria, so the Missouri Access scholarship is open to more students, Wade said. He said more than 43,000 Missouri students are eligible for the scholarship.

For MU, this means around 5,500 students will have a drop in their scholarship, but the program is giving more money to students than in previous years, Basi said.

"This is good news for students," he said.

This scholarship will hopefully increase the opportunity students have to receive a college education, said Basi.

Even with the 30 percent decrease, the program is able to reach more than 2 1/2 times what need-based scholarships could in the school year, Wade said.

Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, a sponsor of the omnibus higher-education bill, said he worked closely with Blunt to get the program approved. He said Missouri higher-education funding and support was cut for about seven years.

"That's the whole idea of the program: being able to reach more students and providing more funding for higher education," Nodler said.

Nodler said the drop in award money meant the scholarship would reach more students. He said he sees this as an advantage.