Cuts to scholarships, MU programs take effect

More than 4,600 MU students will be affected by the scholarship cuts.

By Gregory Zajac

Published July 7, 2010

The $63 million in higher education program cuts ordered last month by Gov. Jay Nixon went into effect Thursday, and those reductions will affect how thousands of MU students pay for college.

Nixon ordered $300 million in cuts to the state’s total budget to balance it in the face of falling tax revenues due to the economic downturn. More than one-fifth of those came from higher education funding, including scholarship programs.

According to the Missouri Office of Administration, the Access Missouri scholarship, a need-based scholarship program, will lose $50 million of its $82.2 million in state funds. According to a document on the OA website, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority will offset some of that, about $30 million, with a loan.

Despite the offset, Access Missouri award amounts will likely be reduced from $4,600 to $1,000 for students at private institutions, from $2,150 to $500 for students at public colleges and universities and from $300 to $150 for students at community colleges, UM system spokeswoman Jennifer Hollingshead said.

Anna Osterlind, assistant legislative director of the Associated Students of the University of Missouri, said Access Missouri was the state’s only need-based scholarship. More than 43,300 students statewide received Access Missouri scholarships in 2009, a number that includes more than 4,600 students at MU, according to the Missouri Department of Higher Education’s website.

“We understand that it’s a tough budget year, but we’re disappointed to see some of the cuts are going to come at the cost of education, especially because it will affect some of Missouri’s neediest students,” Osterlind said.

Although core funding for universities and colleges did not see additional cuts, budgets for some MU programs were also slashed. Others were spared or found alternate sources of funding.

The Missouri Institute for Mental Health saw $250,000 of its budget, half of its state funding, cut, which will force it to end its affiliation with MU. Missouri has been cutting funding for the institute since 2003, Director Danny Wedding said, when 10 percent of its $2.55 million from the state was cut.

Funding for MIMH’s activities include work on grant writing, policy and research for the Missouri Department of Mental Health. The institute had to make up for them in federal and state grants, Wedding said. In response to the loss of state funding since 2003, Wedding has laid off approximately 12 employees, closed the MIMH library and decided to end the institute’s 45-year connection with MU to move to another campus.

“Negotiations between the Missouri Department of Mental Health and the University of Missouri — Columbia broke down, and a new academic home had to be found for the Missouri Institute of Mental Health,” Wedding said.

The work of the Primary Care Resource Initiative for Missouri will be largely unaffected by the $1.3 million cut to its budget. PRIMO, working within the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services, awards forgivable student loans to encourage doctors and other health professionals to work in poor areas. Kit Wagar, spokesman for the Department of Health and Senior Services, said this service will largely be funded by $1.5 million in similar programs for Missouri under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

“If you look at the programs that Governor Nixon trimmed, he tried to pick a lot of the programs that had alternate sources of funding,” Wagar said.

PRIMO and the Department of Health and Senior Services will instead focus on living up to existing student loan commitments, identifying underserved areas and certifying clinics for placement.

“Many of the programs that lost state funding will continue in some other fashion,” Wagar said. “PRIMO is an example of that.”