FUND DEARTH MEANS FEWER STATE GRANTS

THE FUNDING DILEMMA IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Only 7 percent of Missouri's public college and university students who were eligible for financial aid received need-based state grants in 1989.

The Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education last year reported that $1.2 million in Missouri Student Grant Program funds were awarded to 1,943 eligible, public-institution students.

But grants for 24,160 eligible students, totalling more than $15 million, were denied because of a lack of funding.

In all of Missouri's public, independent, professional-technical institutions, only 25 percent of eligible students were awarded the grants in 1989. More than 26,000 students eligible for $18.3 million in grants went unfunded.

Missouri educators, business leaders and lawmakers have urged that any tax increase to fund higher education earmark a portion of new money for funding of the state grant program.

At Southeast, 65 students 3 percent of those eligible for the funds were awarded the need-based grants in 1989.

Financial Aids Director Gene Buck said the university nearly doubled the awards in 1990, funding 132 eligible applicants. But, she said, Southeast, like institutions throughout the country, is unable to fund a large majority of students eligible for grants.

"It's declining everywhere across the country," Buck said. "There just aren't that many funds available."

Missouri legislators now are debating education tax proposals that would include $35 million to $40 million in "new money" to fully fund the grant program. Buck said the additional funding would be paramount to improving higher-education accessibility for all Missouri residents.

She said additional funding for the financial need-based grants will lessen students' reliance upon low-interest, subsidized loans.

"It used to be that the grants covered about one-third to two-thirds of the cost of education," Buck said. "But now students are needing to take out loans to pay for school.

"As the grants have not gone up, and tuition and the cost of living continue to rise, that means that students have to borrow more money."

Buck said that as more students are forced to borrow money for their education, many end up defaulting on the loans when they're unable to finish school or secure a well-paying job.

"A lot of students who have borrowed a lot of money may not be able to finish school or get a job that pays enough to pay back the loans," she said. "By the time they go four years they may have a substantial debt built up."

Business leaders also have recognized the need to increase funding for the state's student-grants program. The Missouri Business and Education Partnership Commission last year recommended that $40 million of any new education-tax revenue be used to fully fund the program at a maximum award level of $3,000 per eligible applicant.

Confluence St. Louis-Kansas City Consensus, a group of business and education representatives, also recommended that the grant program be expanded to provide aid to all eligible students and that the maximum grant be increased from $1,500 to $3,000.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Missouri have recommended that an additional $19.5 million be allocated to fund student grants.

Dan Peterson of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education said the program has been under funded each of the past eight years he's worked for the coordinating board.

Peterson said $8.2 million to $9.7 million has been allocated annually to the program during the past eight years to award grants to 8,200 to 9,200 eligible students, most of whom attend private colleges in Missouri.

But, for every student who receives a grant, three eligible students are denied the money. Peterson said that 23,000 to 26,000 eligible students have been denied the grants each year because of budgetary constraints.

He said the $35 million to $40 million proposed for state grants in the tax-hike-for-education legislation now being considered would fully fund the program based on the number of applicants last year.