Missouri students attending college inside the state - including those at Westminster College and William Woods University - are scheduled to receive modest state scholarship increases this year.
Access Missouri scholarships are planned to increase maximum award levels by up to 3 percent and Bright Flight Scholarships will go up $250 each.
Bright Flight scholarships are awarded to Missouri high school students whose test scores rank in the top 3 percent of all students in the state taking ACT or SAT tests.
Under the governor's proposed state budget this year, Bright Flight Scholarships will increase from $1,750 to $2,000 per scholarship.
An estimated 6,100 Missouri high school graduates this year will qualify for the Bright Flight program. The Bright Flight Scholarship program was created by the state to help persuade the state's highest qualified students to obtain college degrees inside Missouri instead of going to other states.
Aimee Bristow, director of financial aid at Westminster College in Fulton, said 51 Westminster students now enrolled will qualify for Bright Flight Scholarships this year and are scheduled to receive an additional $250 more than originally planned, bringing this state scholarship up to $2,000 a year.