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Local educators on Monday praised a measure crafted by U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt that will restore year-round Pell grants that help lower-income students pay for their college education.

"This will make a big difference for lots of students and their ability to graduate," Blunt said at a gathering including students, educators and other officials at Missouri Southern State University.

More than 50 percent of the students at MSSU qualify for Pell grants and that number increases to more than 60 percent at Crowder College, officials said.

The grants currently are available only for students attending class in fall and spring semesters. Blunt said the year-round grants existed until 2008 and are being restored in a measure recommended by a Senate subcommittee that he chairs.

"It's been passed by the appropriations committee and is the first bipartisan bill that's been passed in seven years," he said.

For most students, the grants pay for tuition, books and fees and sometimes provide money that helps for living expenses. Restoring the grants for the summer semester will allow students to stay in school and increase their chances of graduation. Too often, he said, students take a job for the summer and don't resume their education.

"This creates an opportunity for students with limited incomes to stay in school until they're done and ready for a job," he said.

Mitch McCumber, chairman of the MSSU Board of Governors agreed: "This is great news, because graduation is what we're all about."

Many students at Crowder have families and are in career-oriented programs such as nursing, said Andy Wood, chairman of the Crowder College Board of Trustees.

"They need to get their education, get out and get a job. But when they do, it will be life-altering for them and their families," he said. "This is a big deal." 

Crowder's enrollment dropped by 500 students when the year-round program ended in 2008, said Amy Rand, vice president of finance.

The forum included two students who also rely on Pell grants. Desirea Buerge, a biology and pre-med major, said the only way she was able to take summer classes was with the help of an athletic scholarship. Quinton Sargent, a communications major, said he had to take out a loan.

"I work in the financial aid office, and I hear the same thing from a lot of students," he said.

Glenn Coltharp, vice president of academic affairs at Crowder, said the summer grants also will help education majors who, without the summer semester, "have to wait an entire year to get a job."

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