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| 2/26/2010 10:57:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Public higher ed
bill moves ahead
Warrensburg - The Senate Education Committee agreed on a split vote to change the division for state scholarships given to thousands of students at public and private institutions of higher education.
"It's been the most successful scholarship program we've had for higher ed in the history of the state of Missouri," Education Committee Chairman David Pearce said Thursday.
No one argued that point, but did argue other concerns during and after 6-3 committee passage.
At Avila University - a Catholic institution in South Kansas City - Vice President for Enrollment Ned Harris said the proposed funding change would hurt needy students at private institutions.
"That's a couple of hundred students here at Avila," Harris said Thursday. "The value of the award at the private institutions is high enough that without it a student who's receiving the maximum Access Missouri award, or with a significant reduction... That might make the difference for a student."
Pearce said he does not expect the bill to reach the Senate floor before the legislative break in mid-March. In the meantime, work on the bill continues.
"There is a group of both public and private universities that is still meeting to possibly give us some suggestions, maybe some compromise," Pearce said. "We're going to wait to hear from them, but in my opinion legislation moves forward and you work on it every day."
The education measure affects lawmakers in various ways, with some having only private colleges in their district, some having only public institutions, some having none and some - including Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia - having both.
Though his district includes the University of Missouri at Columbia and the private Stephens and Columbia colleges, Schaefer proposed the bill. His legislation calls for all students who attend four-year institutions to receive a maximum of $2,850, public or private, effective in 2014.
"It is politically charged and if we can forge a compromise, that's going to be great," Pearce said, later adding, "To me, the bottom line is just a fairness, an equity issue. Why would you give an advantage to those who are going to our private institutions at the expense of those that are going to publics?"
Harris said he considered the present system - developed based on negotiations between representatives of public and private schools - fair.
"It doesn't make sense to take money out of the pockets of needy students to better fund the state institutions," he said.
Access Missouri designers sought to create scholarships based on where students wanted to use the award, Harris said. Designers created awards amounts to cover the same percentage of costs whether at public or private institutions, he said.
"They created something here that is good public policy and makes sense to people, and now because we're all experiencing difficulties with budgets, there's a handful of legislators that are trying to work to balance the state's budget on the backs of these needy students," Harris said. "I don't think that's fair and it doesn't make sense."
Present law allows maximums of $2,150 for students attending four-year public schools and $4,600 for students at four-year private schools.
Pearce supports the bill. Without action, he said, the Access Missouri program would expire in three years.
"One thing that is really bringing people to the bargaining table and to want to work on this legislation is the current Access Missouri sunset in 2013, so if we don't do anything, this program is just going to evaporate," he said.
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