JOPLIN, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon today visited Missouri Southern State University in Joplin to announce that the maximum award amount for Access Missouri scholarships for the 2016-2017 school year will increase by more than 21 percent, to $2,250 from $1,850 for students attending participating four-year institutions and to $1,030 from $850 for students attending participating two-year institutions. This is the second consecutive fiscal year increase for Access Missouri scholarships.
“In a knowledge-based economy, the high-growth and high-tech industries of the future need well-educated workers,” Gov. Nixon said. “That’s why my administration has made college affordability a top priority, strengthening and expanding our scholarship programs and ensuring Missouri remains a national leader in holding down tuition costs.”
Access Missouri is a needs-based scholarship program to help students of low-income families attend a participating Missouri college or university, if the student meets the Missouri Department of Higher Education’s eligibility criteria. Approximately 50,000 students receive an Access Missouri scholarship annually.
This latest funding increase for Access Missouri scholarships is one of many achievements made for public higher education and students through Gov. Nixon’s leadership:
- The Show-Me State has led the nation in holding down tuition increases for in-state students at Missouri’s public universities over the past seven years, and an agreement between Gov. Nixon and college and universities will keep tuition flat again for the 2016-2017 school year. That affordability has resulted in a 36 percent increase in the number of Missouri students – some 50,000 – earning a higher education degree since Gov. Nixon took office;
- In 2015, the General Assembly followed the Governor’s recommendation by passing the most significant state bonding investment in higher education in more than 20 years. The “Building Affordability” initiative is putting more than $200 million in building projects on college campuses throughout the state, including a more than $16 million renovation of Reynolds Hall on the MSSU campus;
- Funding for Missouri’s other scholarship programs has increased, including an additional $2.5 million for A+ Scholarships and an additional $500,000 for Bright Flight for Fiscal Year 2017. Missouri’s A+ program also has expanded by more than 250 high schools to become available in more than 99 percent of public high schools in the state; and
- Targeted strategic initiatives such as Caring for Missourians, MoHeathWINS and MoManufacturingWINS have produced more graduates to help meet the ongoing need for skilled professionals in high-paying and fast-growing career fields.
