MDHEWD appears before the House Budget Committee
On Wednesday, Feb. 17, Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development (MDHEWD) Commissioner Zora Mulligan and Deputy Commissioner Leroy Wade presented the Governor’s FY 22 budget requests for the department and higher education before the House Budget Committee. The meeting was chaired by House Subcommittee on Appropriations—Education Chairman Rusty Black (R- Chillicothe).
Commissioner Mulligan provided an overview of the department’s responsibilities and vision. She also described how department staff have worked diligently throughout the pandemic to assist Missourians.
Deputy Commissioner Wade covered details about the budget requests and the specific programs for higher education and workforce development. His presentation highlighted the department’s administrative and coordinating functions, key initiative efforts like MoExcels, and uses of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funds provided through the Office of Workforce Development (OWD).
Deputy Commissioner Wade also discussed the grants and scholarships administered by the department. “The department provides nine, sometimes 10, programs that distribute about $135 million to approximately 70,000 students,” he shared. The majority of the hearing focused on the four largest aid programs: the A+, Access Missouri, Bright Flight, and the Fast Track. This included extensive dialogues between the department and Rep. Kevin Windham (D-Hillsdale). Rep. Windham raised several questions about the extent to which the state’s three largest financial aid programs are structured to support students most in need.
“In little to no fault of the department, our state financial aid programs, in my opinion at least, are broken and disjointed,” Rep. Windham said in his opening statement. He went on the say that it was up to the committee, and specifically the general assembly as a whole, to fix the state's financial aid programs.
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House Higher Education Committee hears Rep. Richey’s tuition cap removal legislation
On Monday, Feb. 8, the House Higher Education Committee, chaired by Rep. Brenda Shields (R-St. Joseph), heard public testimony on Rep. Doug Richey’s (R- Excelsior Springs) HB 856. The legislation would suspend the caps on tuition set by SB 389, the Higher Education Student Funding Act, for five years.
In his opening statement, Rep. Richey said, “I do think one of the benefits of removing this [cap] has to do with the differentiation between various degree programs. There are some degrees currently that are very inexpensive to provide, but because universities basically have to hold a common tuition rate, they end up having to charge more than what they are costing.” Rep. Richey also said that the cap removal would allow market factors to play into the equation of tuition rates.
According to Rep. Richey, the bill would allow institutions to reduce tuition for lower-cost degrees and allow institutions to charge students in more expensive degree programs tuition that is commensurate with those higher expenses.
Committee members questioned how the bill would incentivize institutions to lower their tuition. Several members suggested that these costs are already paid by students in the form of fees, effectively allowing institutions to charge different rates for different degree programs.
Rep. Richey said in his closing remarks, “I am a fan of basically allowing the market to affect, in a more natural way, the pricing of anything that you are talking about, and tuition just happens to be in front of us.” Rep. Richey added that the tuition rates would be more transparent to incoming freshmen and parents if institutions expressed the actual price of tuition instead of using a cap on tuition and making up their shortfalls by charging different fees.
Proponents of the bill, including the Council on Public Higher Education and the University of Missouri System, spoke about bill’s potential to increase transparency around college costs. They also noted several factors, including the current pandemic and enrollment trends, that they say make it unlikely that institutions will increase tuition significantly. The University of Missouri System’s representative indicated that the system will likely switch to a differential tuition model if the legislation becomes law.
There were no testimonies in opposition to the bill.
House Health and Mental Health Policy Committee considers Rep. Chipman’s college health bill
On Feb. 8, the House Health and Mental Health Policy Committee, chaired by Rep. Mike Stephens (R-Bolivar), considered Rep. Jason Chipman’s (R-Steelville) HB 681. The bill would prohibit higher education institutions from charging health care fees to any student who shows proof of health insurance. In his opening statement, Rep. Chipman said, “Right now, each university has its own policy over all this.” He read the fees several colleges and universities charge students for health care costs.
During the hearing, committee members asked how the bill would affect universities and the money they need to run certain clinics, especially during a pandemic. Committee members also noted that Rep. Chipman has introduced the same legislation in five sessions but the bill has not been passed into law.
No one testified in support of the bill. Opponents of the bill said they worried about the financial impact the bill would have on institutions’ health clinics. Opponents also indicated that they felt the legislation was a one-size-fits-all approach, and that health care at higher education institutions varies.
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