Funding for Missouri’s need-based scholarship programs is “consistently and grossly inadequate” with awards to students with financial need “significantly less than those … without financial need,” according to a study produced by the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis.
The 21-page Report Card on the Scholarship Programs of the State of Missouri released Wednesday by the Foundation’s League of Student Advocates “reveals significant disparities” in how the state administers its four college scholarship programs.
“Funding for Missouri’s need-based scholarship programs is consistently and grossly inadequate,” the report card states. “Awards to students with financial need are significantly less than those made to students without financial need.”
The report card calls on lawmakers to adopt a series of reforms that include consolidating the four scholarship programs into one entity with enhanced need-based criteria for awards and a $130 million boost in annual funding for need-based scholarships.
“If education is to be a top priority in the state, financial assistance must be fundamentally restructured,” the report card states. “Providing $130 million yearly for need-based scholarships would go a long way in providing fairness and opportunity for disadvantaged students.”
Missouri offers four state-sponsored scholarship programs. Two are needs-based – Access Missouri and Fast Track – and two are merit-based, Bright Flight and A+.
In 2020, Access Missouri, the largest of the four programs, awarded 43,656 students $69 million in scholarships. The average award was $1,543.60.
All Access Missouri recipients were from households with median incomes under $40,000, the report card notes, citing data from the state’s Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development.
The Fast Track Workforce Incentive Grant issued scholarships to 189 students at least 25 years old to pursue education “in an area designed as high need.”
The A+ program issued 13,575 students scholarships averaging $3,778.66 each to students with high school GPAs of 2.5 or higher.
The Bright Flight program awarded 7,784 scholarships averaging $2,625 each to students who scored in the top 3% to 5% of Missouri ACT test-takers.
Needs-based scholarships totaling almost $70 million were issued to nearly 44,000 students while about $65 million in merit-based scholarships were granted to fewer than 22,000 students.
While all 44,000 needs-based scholarship recipients were from households with median incomes below $40,000, the average merit-based scholarship recipient is from homes “whose median incomes exceeded $91,000,” according to the report.
Students from wealthier families are garnering nearly twice as much money as those from less affluent families, the Foundation states.
“The state’s scholarship programs especially shortchange students from households with low incomes,” the report card claims.
Other disparities reveal that while Missouri’s population is 12% Black, Black students receive 2% or fewer of the awards from the A+, Bright Flight and Fast Track programs.
And while Missouri’s rural population is 37% of the state, the report card documents that students from rural areas receive only 13% to 29% of Access Missouri, Bright Flight, and Fast Track scholarships.
In addition to consolidating the four into one scholarship program, the Foundation’s League of Student Advocates recommendations include:
- Increase Access Missouri appropriations and award amounts. The suggested amount is $130 million
- Adjust Bright Flight test score requirement from the top 3% to 5% of test takers to students who score 20% or more above the state average for ACT, SAT, or equivalent.
- Eliminate “in demand” occupation restrictions for the Fast Track program.
- Realign the A+ scholarship to be a “first dollar” program instead of “last dollar.”
- Remove the requirements for community service and attendance at an A+ high school.
