Missouri College Scholarship Program threatened by cuts

One of the more dramatic government cost savings Missouri Governor Jay Nixon proposed last week was the elimination of state-paid scholarships to private college students.

Faced with revenue shortfalls, Governor Nixon’s proposed to cut $50 million in state-funded scholarships and grants for state-wide students who attend private institutions.

The College of the Ozarks, located in Point Lookout, Missouri, is at risk of losing $1.8 million a year.

“Missouri has wonderful colleges and universities, both public and private. But in times like these, we simply can’t continue to subsidize the choice to attend a private school,” Nixon said March 11, during a Springfield Business Development Corporation meeting.

“I think this is very short-sighted,” said Elizabeth Andrews, spokeswoman for the college.

According to the Independent Colleges & Universities of Missouri organization, private institutions awarded 47 percent of all degrees in the state last year, including 67 percent of graduate degrees.

Currently, there are 567 in the Access Missouri program at College of the Ozarks. The Access Missouri program is a need-based financial aid program for students attending college in Missouri. Through this program, each student receives an average of $3,160 toward their education costs. If this scholarship is eliminated for students attending private colleges, that would mean a loss of about $1.8 million a year for College of the Ozarks.

Two bills proposing to cut the programs have been introduced already this year.

The Senate bill has cleared the education committee. Similar bills were introduced last year, but neither cleared the committee.

Andrews said while the loss of funding wouldn’t have an immediate impact on the college, it could down the road, possibly causing the college to help less students.

“$1.8 million, that has to be made up somewhere else,” she said. “It would take a toll on the institution after a while.”