Thu, Nov 26 2009
|
|
Missouri: Petition calls for statewide vote on higher ed plan “MOHELA was never started as a moneymaking entity,” Purdy said. “It started as a service organization to help students who had to borrow money to get a higher education.”
In 1981, Purdy assisted then-Gov. Kit Bond to create MOHELA to make it easier for college students to get loans. Purdy had been the director of student financial aide for the four-campus University of Missouri System. Blunt first introduced a plan more than a year ago to use proceeds from the sale of some MOHELA assets to pay for buildings focused on life science research. After the Legislature did not approve the plan in 2006 and critics of embryonic stem cell research raised objections, Blunt reshaped it to focus on agricultural projects. Sen. Gary Nodler, who sponsored the legislation authorizing the plan and traveled with Blunt across the state, said Missourians overwhelmingly favor the idea. “It actually causes MOHELA to achieve its purpose, which is to benefit Missouri students and Missouri higher education,” said Nodler, R-Joplin. Higher education officials also have embraced Blunt’s proposal, and Missouri Western State University President Jim Scanlon called The Associated Press unsolicited Friday to praise the plan. Scanlon, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee to the state’s higher education governing board, said university leaders appreciate that for the first time in several years, there is some state money for capital projects. His St. Joseph campus would get $30.1 million to expand its math and science building. He said the petition to put the measure on the ballot is an unneeded additional review. “Through their elected representatives, the people have already spoken,” Scanlon said. The plan’s critics say using money from the quasi-governmental loan agency could endanger the availability of future student loans. Rep. Clint Zweifel, among the most vocal critics of the plan throughout the process, said earlier this month that he planned to try to get the legislation authorizing the plan on the ballot. Earlier this week, Zweifel, D-Florissant, backed off that pledge. Legislation approved by lawmakers made it to the ballot in 1982 when voters defeated a measure that would have allowed heavier and longer trucks on the highways. —— Higher ed bill is SB389. On the Net: 
•
Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.
More from the State News section
Missouri: State ordered to pay $152,000 to janitorial company Kansas: National Guard to close 18 armories Oklahoma; Regulators approve ‘OU Spirit’ wind farm plan |
Print this story
E-mail this story
Post to del.icio.us
Discuss this story
 |
 |
: Special Offer For New Subscribers
:
 |
|||||||
|
|||||||
 |
|
|
Published by Newspaper Holding, Inc. 117 East Fourth Street, Joplin, MO 64801 Using our site is your agreement to the terms and conditions. News: news@joplinglobe.com • (417)623-3480 Advertise with the Joplin Globe Copyright © 2006 The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO All rights reserved. 
|
Popular Business directory links - Joplin Apartments | Joplin Attorneys | Joplin Auto Dealers | Joplin Auto Parts | Joplin Auto Repair | Joplin Beauty Salons | Joplin Car Rental | Joplin Dentists | Joplin Doctors | Joplin Flowers | Joplin Hotels | Joplin Insurance | Joplin Loans | Joplin Mortgages | Joplin Movers | Joplin Pizza | Joplin Realtors | Joplin Restaurants | Joplin Storage | Joplin Tax Preparation | Joplin Travel | Joplin Featured | More...
|
|
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI Classified Advertising Network • CNHI News Service |
