This year was always going to be tough going financially for certain Missouri college students, specifically the ones who’d grown up in the state but had been born outside of the country.
About a month before the school year started, the Legislature put in place a rule that said colleges and universities have to charge so-called DACA students the highest tuition rate available. For some students, this meant they would be paying more than double what they expected.
DACA students are those who are brought to the U.S. as young children by undocumented parents. They have legal permission to stay in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, or DACA.
College leaders across the state predicted the new rule would leave dozens and possibly hundreds of students in limbo — leading high school seniors not to pursue college and causing those already in school to drop out.
But until this week, there was a glimmer of hope for the subset of undocumented students planning on attending community college. When legislators passed Senate Bill 224 barring them from receiving the state’s A+ Scholarship, Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed it.
On Wednesday night, lawmakers voted to override Nixon’s veto, meaning undocumented students who’d met the requirements — maintained a 2.5 grade-point average, had a 95 percent high school attendance record and completed 50 hours of unpaid mentoring and tutoring — would no longer have their tuition and fees covered by the state.
Read more at The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/college-officials-adjust-to-missouri-s-ban-on-a-scholarship/article_f8313e0b-cff0-5f47-a8dc-5b0369966216.html