Scholarship awards increase for Missouri 2013 graduates

Missouri is increasing its Bright Flight and Access Missouri college scholarships for 2013 graduates, according to a news release from Gov. Jay Nixon.

Bright Flight Scholarship award amounts will increase $250, from $1,750 to $2,000 per scholarship. This program will benefit up to 6,100 Missouri graduates. To be eligible for a Bright Flight Scholarship, the applicant must be a Missouri student and U.S. citizen and have a composite score on the ACT or SAT in the top 3 percent of all Missouri students taking those tests.

Additionally, the Access Missouri scholarship program will see each of its three maximum award levels increase by up to 3 percent.

Access Missouri is a financial aid program for Missouri students who are U.S. Citizens and whose family income qualifies the student for tuition assistance.

Meanwhile, Missouri's A+ scholarship program will remain fully funded while the number of students taking advantage of the program continues to grow.

Under the A+ program, Missouri students can earn a scholarship to cover the cost of tuition and academic fees for two years at any public two-year community college or technical school in the state. To be eligible for the program, students must meet academic achievement, conduct and attendance requirements, and perform 50 hours of tutoring or mentoring service.

For fiscal year 2013, more than $29 million has been budgeted to fund the A+ program. Funding for the program was maintained earlier this year by an appropriations bill endorsed by the governor and passed by the General Assembly.

During the past three years, Missouri's public four-year institutions' tuition and fee increases were the lowest in the nation, according to a national nonpartisan College Board Advocacy and Policy Center state-by-state analysis of college tuition rates released in August. The report found that tuition rates at all of Missouri's higher education institutions remain below the national average.