Monday, May 7, 2007
Contact: Jessica Robinson, 573-751-0290
Blunt Lauds General Assembly for Passing Historic Higher Education Plan for Missouri Students & Families
JEFFERSON CITY–Gov. Matt Blunt today applauded the Missouri General Assembly for giving final approval to a historic higher education plan for Missouri students and families.
The plan increases funding for student scholarships, introduces accountability measures, provides tuition stabilization and includes the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative, which would provide $335 million for new state-of-the-art learning centers for Missouri students.
“This is a historic day for higher education in Missouri,” Blunt said. “Today we delivered a strong message to Missouri’s college students and their families that education is Missouri’s highest priority. With this action, Missouri students from all walks of life will benefit from additional scholarships, more predictable tuition costs and new state-of-the-art learning centers that will give them a competitive edge in the workforce. I applaud the General Assembly’s work on this historic higher education package and look forward to signing this bill. I am especially grateful to Sen. Nodler and Rep. Bearden for their work on this critical legislation.”
Senate Bill 389 expands scholarship opportunities, provides predictability in tuition costs, introduces accountability measures and enacts the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative.
The bill creates the Access Missouri Scholarship that will more than double funding for needs based scholarships making them more available to thousands of Missouri families.