Students awarded scholarships from lawsuit settlement

By Elliot Njus

Published Jan. 29, 2008

The UM system is accepting applications for a scholarship created by a 2005 legal settlement.

The scholarship fund was created after St. Louis attorney Robert Herman filed a class action lawsuit against the UM system. The system has awarded scholarships funded by the settlement since 2006. The lawsuit alleged that the university’s “educational fees” violated an 1872 Missouri law that prohibited the collection of tuition from Missouri residents.

Since 1986, the UM system has collected educational fees from students. In 2002, UM system spokesman David Russell — now UM system chief of staff — said that educational fees are different from tuition because Missouri students’ education is subsidized from the state, and that tuition refers to the entire cost of a student’s education.

The law was changed in 2001 to allow the system to collect educational fees.

The lawsuit could have cost the UM system up to $450 million, but the two sides reached an agreement that would create a $10 million scholarship fund. Since then, the fund has grown to more than $13 million.

According to the text of the settlement, the money in the fund must be used for Tuition Settlement Scholarships until the 25th anniversary of the fund’s establishment.

The scholarships can go to students who attended any of the UM system campuses between January 1995 and August 2001 as undergraduates and residents of Missouri. The students must have been between 16 and 25 years old when they attended the university.

Tuition Settlement Scholarship coordinator Carolyn Allen said the system had expected more applications for the scholarship than they received.

“We initially thought from records and data that there would be about 4,000,” Allen said. “We didn’t get that high number.”

In 2006 the system awarded 1,875 scholarships, Allen said. Last year, it awarded 1,727 scholarships totaling $938,771. Of that, almost 42 percent went to students who attended MU.

As a result, the amount of each award has increased each year. In 2006, the first year the scholarship was offered, each qualifying student received $500, Allen said. In 2007, that amount increased to $515. This year, the scholarships are being awarded in the amount of $530.

Qualifying students’ spouses and children are also eligible. Allen said most of the scholarships awarded so far have gone to students who are still enrolled at a UM system campus, but that more will likely be awarded when qualifying students’ children reach college age.

“As their children become eligible, then we should see an influx of applicants at that point,” she said. “We’re kind of at a dormant stage right now.”

At that time, she said, applicants would need to provide proof of relationship to a qualified student. Spouses need to provide proof that they are married to a qualified student with a copy of their marriage license.

She said some students’ adopted children who are college-aged could apply for the scholarships.

Allen said she sends reminder e-mails to enrolled students who are eligible for the scholarship. She said that as she receives inquiries about the scholarships, she adds new applicants to her reminder list.

The scholarships can be used for any UM system education, including undergraduate or graduate studies at any UM system campus and MU Extension programs.

The scholarship application is available at the UM system Web site.