Dive Brief:
- The commissioner of Missouri’s Department of Higher Education told colleges Thursday that the state appropriations bill has no legal authority to restrict aid to students living in the country legally through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
- Missouri is set to offer qualifying DACA students scholarship funds from its A+ program for the first time since its inception, providing them with money to attend a two-year public or private college.
- Colleges last week learned these students wouldn’t be eligible for any state scholarship money because of language in the title and preamble of the state higher education budget appropriations bill, but the commission’s review is expected to be final.
Dive Insight:
The Department of Higher Education disburses money in the form of the A+ scholarships, meaning even if colleges are unsure over whether the department’s analysis is legally sound, they will not have any say in the actual payouts. Republicans in the state senate tried to pass a bill that would have unequivocally blocked such spending, but Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed it. The language in the appropriations bill is limited to the title and preamble. When colleges first learned of the issue last week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Nixon already argued the restriction was not binding because it didn’t make it into the meat of the bill.