Beacon: Missouri
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by Maria Benevento, Beacon: Missouri
January 9, 2025
Missouri lawmakers are proposing bigger scholarships for students with financial need, allowing more universities to grant engineering and medical degrees, and supporting aid to victims of hazing.
Ahead of the 2025 legislative session’s launch on Wednesday, members of the Missouri General Assembly filed more than two dozen bills affecting higher education.
To be signed into law by Gov. Mike Kehoe, the proposals would have to make it through a series of approvals in both houses of the legislature. There’s no guarantee that any of these bills will receive an initial hearing, much less be discussed and approved by the full House and Senate.
Legislation can also be amended, sometimes dramatically, at several stages in the process.
If you want to weigh in on which of these bills should advance or how they should change, contact your representatives or refer to this guide to navigating the General Assembly.
Students eligible for the Access Missouri Financial Assistance Program, a need-based grant for students who attend participating Missouri two- or four-year colleges, would receive more funding under House Bill 265.
The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Brenda Shields of St. Joseph, could add up to $3,500 for students receiving the maximum award.
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Some students studying science, technology, engineering or math who are eligible for the Access Missouri program could also receive an additional $1,500 per semester, up to $6,000 total, under House Bill 168.
The proposal sponsored by Rep. Donnie Brown, a Republican from New Madrid, would make the new STEM grant available if the legislature chooses to set aside money for the program.
Another bill Brown sponsors, House Bill 204, would offer tax credits to eligible engineering companies and their new employees with engineering degrees or certificates.
Rep. Brad Christ, a Republican from St. Louis County, filed House Bill 496 to offer free tuition to Missouri first responders — such as firefighters, police officers and paramedics — and their dependents. After accounting for other federal and state scholarships, the program would cover remaining costs for in-state tuition at a public community college or university.
To be eligible, first responders would have to be licensed and actively employed and pursue education related to their job. Their dependents would have to sign an agreement to remain in the state for five years after graduation, or risk being asked to repay the money.
Other bills seek to specify who is eligible for in-state tuition.
House Bill 419 clarifies that military personnel stationed in Missouri and their children can pay the lower in-state tuition rate for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Republican Rep. Don Mayhew of Crocker filed the bill.
Rep. Wick Thomas of Kansas City, a Democrat, wants to classify some immigrants who don’t have permanent legal status as residents for the purposes of in-state tuition. To be eligible, they must sign an agreement to become a citizen or lawful permanent resident when eligible.
His House Bill 427 says residents are students who graduated from a Missouri high school or home school, unless they establish a residence outside of the state.
Currently, the University of Missouri’s four campuses in Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia and Rolla have exclusive power among the state’s public universities to grant research doctorates and certain professional degrees in fields including dentistry, law, medicine, optometry, pharmacy and veterinary medicine.
Other universities can offer degrees in podiatry, chiropractic and osteopathic medicine or engineering if they collaborate with the University of Missouri, which would officially grant the degree. If the University of Missouri declines to collaborate with them, they can offer those degrees on their own.
Bills filed in the House and the Senate would change that, allowing other public universities to grant those degrees as well.
They include House Bill 90, filed by Republican Rep. Dave Griffith of Jefferson City, House Bill 616 filed by Republican Rep. Melanie Stinnett of Springfield, and Senate Bill 11, filed by Republican Sen. Lincoln Hough of Springfield.
Bills filed in the House and Senate would make it easier to transfer core classes for certain degree programs from one public college or university to another within Missouri.
House Bill 183 and Senate Bill 69 both require that an advisory committee agree on lower-division core curricula of 60 credit hours for general business, elementary education and teaching, general psychology, registered nursing and general biology or biological science.
Any public higher education institutions that offer those degrees would use a common numbering system for the classes and allow students to transfer those credits from other schools.
They were filed by Rep. Cameron Parker, a Republican from Campbell, and Sen. Mike Henderson, a Republican representing five counties in east-central Missouri.
A pair of Kansas City-area Democrats have filed legislation that would require public colleges and universities to have policies for offering credit when students score 4 or higher on international baccalaureate (IB) exams.
IB is an international academic program offered in several Kansas City-area districts and charter schools.
The proposals are House Bill 291, sponsored by Rep. Kemp Strickler of Lee’s Summit, and Senate Bill 243, sponsored by Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, who represents part of Clay County.
They would require schools to establish conditions for granting course credit and exactly what kind of credit would be awarded, similar to how they currently handle Advanced Placement (AP) test scores.
Legislation introduced by Rep. Sherri Gallick, a Republican from Belton, would change hazing law to encourage help for victims.
Under House Bill 234, people who might otherwise be guilty of the crime of hazing can be exempt if they’re the first person to call the police or campus security to report that someone needs emergency medical aid. They also have to provide adequate information, stay with the person until help arrives and cooperate with emergency responders.
People who offer “good faith” medical assistance, such as CPR, before first responders arrive would also be immune from hazing charges.
Lawyers wouldn’t have to complete training on bias, diversity, inclusion or cultural competency each year as part of their continuing legal education under Senate Bill 506.
The proposal, sponsored by Republican Sen. Nick Schroer of St. Charles County, also reduces lawyers’ ethics training requirements from three to two credit hours per year. They’d still have to receive 15 hours of training total.
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Maria Benevento is The Beacon’s education reporter. She joined The Beacon as a Report for America corps member. In addition to her work at The Beacon, she’s reported for the National Catholic Reporter,… More by Maria Benevento
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