In an effort to make Missouri a leader in college affordability, Governor Jay Nixon is pushing for more funding for higher education and scholarship opportunities.
He sat down with students Wednesday morning at Metropolitan Community College to go over the budget he presented for 2017. In it, he proposes a $55.7 million increase in performance funding for Missouri's public colleges and universities. In exchange, he wants tuition freezes for in-state undergraduates and a $7 million increase for three scholarship programs: Access Missouri, A+, and Bright Flight.
The governor held a roundtable with students who are A+ scholarship recipients to ask how that program made a difference in their lives. A+ awards students two free years of community college based on their performance in high school. Governor Nixon expanded that program to nearly every public high school in the state.
Mercedes Kinney is about to graduate from MCC and says A+ took a lot of stress out of the college experience.
"People get caught up in the fact that college does cost a lot of money," Kinney said. "So when they're given an incentive to be able to go to school for two years that's practically paid for, it makes them work harder and makes them believe that they can be something."
Metropolitan Community College would get a $1.62 million increase in funding.
"Eight years of balanced budgets and strict financial discipline have positioned us to make targeted investments in areas that will grow our economy, especially higher education," Gov. Nixon said. "My budget makes sure we stay a leader so that more students and their families can achieve the dream of a college education."
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Sarah Plake can be reached at sarah.plake@kshb.com.
