The rising price of college may now be even higher for Mississippi students. Until this year students were able to “stack” their undergraduate grants given by the state of Mississippi. The grants impacted include the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant (MTAG), Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant (MESG), Higher Education Legislative Plan for Needy Students (HELP), Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers and Fireman Scholarship (LAW), and Nissan Scholarship. Students who are eligible for two or more grant programs will only receive the grant with the highest dollar amount.
These new rules also require that grant recipients will get their GPA checked at the end of each semester, instead of annually. Those who do not keep their GPA at the standard required for their grant will not receive money for the next semester. These new limitations will impact about 3,400 students, and the GPA check each semester is expected to impact another 430 students.
Members of the legislature expressed concern that the state will soon be unable to keep up with the rising number of highly qualified students. This new process could possibly allow more students to receive grants in the future instead of making the requirements even tougher. The state of Mississippi has eight four-year universities with 81,024 students enrolled in total for 2016. While these grants are only for in-state students, 93% of students who graduate high school in Mississippi decide to stay in state.
This is one of the highest rates in the country and is continuing to grow year after year.When we pair these growing rates with Mississippi's monetary history, there would be a 3 million dollar gap between the aid that is available for students and the aid that they request. Allowing state grants to be "stacked" favored students who most often had other scholarship opportunities. With a tight state budget, prohibiting stacking directs grants to those who need it the most: students who have financial need. While students may be unhappy with the reduction of funds, without this new policy grants would have been reduced by 3% next year.
As college students, this reduction in grants can throw a wrench in our plans, but this restriction was going to happen one way or another. The state simply cannot keep up with its ambitious plans for grant programs if more Mississippians continue to go to college in-state. The prohibition of stacking is the State's way of keeping costs in check while still providing opportunities to as many students as possible.
