Board of Trustees agrees to pay for what the A+ Program cannot to help students afford school
By: LIVIE HALL
Managing Editor
Missouri’s A+ Program took a hit in the fall of 2014 when the state announced the scholarship could no longer fully fund students’ tuition.
According to the STLCC website, students who graduated from a participating A+ high school and met certain requirements receive the A+ scholarship. The scholarship promises to cover tuition and fees.
STLCC Interim Chancellor Dennis Michaelis said with the influx of students being eligible to receive this financial aid, the state was unable to keep up financially. This meant students would get a portion of their classes paid for but the rest would have to be out-of-pocket. Michaelis spoke with the Board of Trustees and STLCC decided they would cover what A+ would not.
He said the college did not want students to have to come up with that money in the middle of the academic year, saying they “took that out of the equation from the beginning.”
Right now, Michaelis said this financial coverage is on an “emergency basis.” The fiscal year starts over at the end of June and he said he believes the state will again be able to fully fund students once more.
Michaelis said STLCC wants its students to be successful.
“[STLCC] will make every attempt to help students make the cost of their schooling,” he said.
