Looking for help paying for college tuition? Check out this Missouri program
High school seniors are just a couple of short months away from reaching the finish line. For some, the academic journey doesn’t stop there, and it’s crunch time on the hunt for scholarships to help with the costs of college.
Every student in Missouri is eligible for a program called Bright Flight program. It’s a merit-based grant given to students who attend college in the state, but you have to meet certain criteria before you receive the grant.
HOW DO I BECOME ELIGIBLE?
If you’re a high school senior, you have to meet the following:
Be a Missouri resident and a United States citizen.
Your composite ACT score must be in the top 3% of all Missouri students or,
Your composite SAT score must be in the 4th or 5th percentile of all Missouri students.
The score must be met by June’s test date, which for the ACT is June 11 and for the SAT is June 4.
You don’t need both an ACT and an SAT score. Just one is good enough.
After that, you’ll have to enroll full-time in an eligible Missouri school. You can find the list of schools here. Full-time enrollment is defined as:
A minimum of 12 semester hours.
Six semester hours for students who can’t enroll in 12 hours as a result of a disability.
If you finished high school from one of Missouri’s virtual schools, a homeschool program or got your GED, you’re also eligible for Bright Flight.
For returning Bright Flight students, you have to continue to meet the eligibility requirements for initial students and maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA and keep satisfactory academic progress as your school defines.
HOW DO I APPLY?
You don’t have to! There is no application process for the Bright Flight program. The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development look at your scores and determine if you meet the criteria.
WHAT’S THE QUALIFYING SCORE?
The ACT’s qualifying score is 30 to receive $1,000. If you score 31 or higher, you’ll receive the maximum amount of $3,000. The SAT’s math and critical reading scores haven’t been announced as of March 10.
The state of Missouri will send approval letters to eligible students by June’s ACT and SAT test dates. You can also check the student portal for information on your eligibility.
Do you have other questions about getting ready for college, or about schools and education in the Kansas City area? Ask us at kcq@kcstar.com.
