MISSOURI HAS MORE COLLEGE STUDENTS THAN MONEY FOR LOAN PROGRAM

Missouri has more college students than money for its Advantage Missouri loan program, a state education official said Thursday.

The official, Dan Peterson, said Missouri's Department of Higher Education plans to ask for more money from the Legislature next year.

Peterson, deputy director for the Higher Education Department, discussed the issue at a meeting Thursday of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education. The meeting was held at Southeast Missouri State University.

Created in 1998 by the Missouri Legislature, the student loan program has been budgeted $2.9 million for its first year of operation.

Missouri's Higher Education Department began accepting student applications from participating schools in June of this year.

By the middle of August, the department had received more than 2,000 applications and authorized loans for 1,113 students.

Peterson said the program has issued $1.3 million in student loans for this semester. The $2.9 million in funding for the fiscal year will finance those students who have already been accepted into the program.

That still leaves hundreds of students with no chance for funding this year.

The coordinating board Thursday agreed to seek $5.2 million in state funding for the program in fiscal 2001, an increase of $2.3 million more than initial funding.

Advantage Missouri provides and forgives loans for students in approved educational programs at 80 post-secondary schools in the state.

The loans are forgiven if the graduates take jobs in Missouri in high-demand professions as defined by the coordinating board.

Students are awarded the loans on the basis of need. A student can receive a maximum of $2,500 a year and a total of $10,000 over the course of his or her college career.

The coordinating board annually must designate the high-demand occupations.

On Thursday, the board accepted a staff recommendation to continue to designate the fields of computers, advanced manufacturing and biomedical/biotechnology as high-demand jobs.

Students have to find employment in the designated fields within a year after graduating from college to be eligible for forgiveness of a loan.

Loans will be forgiven on a year by year basis, with each year of approved employment qualifying the student for the forgiveness of one year's loan.

Students who don't get or keep eligible jobs must repay the loans.