Leaders from the University of Missouri and KC Scholars have announced that they are creating college opportunities for 800 additional students from Greater Kansas City over the next eight years.
MU Chancellor Alexander N. Cartwright announced the new scholarship program at North Kansas City High School in North Kansas City, Missouri. KC Scholars will contribute $20 million, while MU and the University of Missouri System will contribute $10 million each, for a total commitment of $40 million.
KC Scholars, launched in 2016, currently awards approximately 500 college scholarships annually for students from the Kansas City metro region to attend one of 17 partner colleges and universities in Missouri and Kansas, including MU. Currently, 46 KC Scholars awardees are enrolled at MU, the largest proportion of KC Scholars students at any college or university. The new funding will support 800 additional scholarships at MU over the next several years, each worth $10,000 per year for up to five years, for students who choose to enroll at MU.
The first students to benefit from this agreement will enroll at MU in fall 2019. The new scholars applied earlier this year and were eligible, but there were not enough funds. Students eligible for the KC Scholars traditional scholarship must be juniors in high schools in one of six counties in the Kansas City region, have at least a 2.5 GPA and present a financial need for additional support. The counties included are Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Platte, Clay, Cass and Jackson counties in Missouri.