Basing state aid on meeting goals

Open admission schools should not be hurt by Higher Education "performance' goals

Gov. Jay Nixon wants Missouri's public colleges and universities to get future increases in state aid based on their performance.

"Our current funding approach is disconnected from statewide goals and needs," the governor told about 120 higher education leaders and lawmakers at his Higher Education Summit.

But both the governor and two Mid-Missouri college presidents agree his new plan shouldn't put open admissions schools at a disadvantage.

"There is, certainly, a strong and lively national conversation about this very issue," Lincoln University President Carolyn Mahoney told a reporter. "There is, indeed, a danger that persons who are less-well prepared will be abandoned by higher education."

Linn State Technical College President Donald Claycomb said: "I think it depends on what the benchmarks are and what the measures are. ...