August 22, 2026
August 22 Issue of the Week: A MO Higher Education Shocker
Summary
My boys are going back to school this week, but they are not the only ones. In fact, it’s a busy time of year, and a financially stressful one for students and their families heading off to college or just hoping to attend in the future.
There is a lot of controversy over student loans and whether a college degree is even worth the sky-high cost of tuition anymore. I think we are asking the wrong questions.
We’ve turned whether college is “worth it” into a political debate. It shouldn’t be political -that is a personal decision for every student and family.
The public question is different: Does Missouri believe it is worth investing in an affordable public university and community college system?
Those are two very different questions, and confusing them has made it easier to quietly reduce the state’s commitment to higher education.
But I digress, I’m giving away the punchline too early.
In Missouri, as well as most of the country, our state government created a dirty little secret that you won’t want your kids or grandkids to know. Unfortunately, this secret has been one of the contributors that has turned the State of Missouri from a successful state in almost every measure to the bottom of the barrel in the last 35 years. Want to know what it is?
A Dirty Little Secret: The State House Stopped Funding Higher Education
In 1990, right after I graduated from college, the University of Missouri (Go Tigers!) received 70% of its funding from the Missouri State Budget, 27% from student tuition and fees, and 3% from other funding sources. In 2025, it was almost the inverse. Students now pay 62% of the budget, 10% comes from other sources, and the Missouri State budget only provides 28% of its funding.
This year, as an in-state student, it could cost over $40,000 to attend just one year of college at MU, while in 1990 it cost approximately $5,000. This is one school’s example, but it is a statewide issue.
This isn’t inflation like you and I think of it. This is a small group of politicians deciding Missouri families don’t need affordable colleges for our kids to become doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers, or businesspeople.
While not every person wants or need to go to college, one of the reasons we have too few doctors, teachers and nurses is because the politicians have decided tax cuts to the very wealthiest Missourians are more important than making sure our kids get educated, stay in Missouri, and provide vital work that we need as we age.
I’m a proud parent of three sons, two who are currently enrolled in Missouri’s proud but financially stressed public colleges. It’s expensive, and we are making sacrifices to make sure our kids have the same chance that we did to get an education. But too many families, no matter how big the sacrifice they’re willing to make, cannot make this happen.
And it doesn’t affect just them- it affects all of us. It affects us when we can’t get into a doctor. It affects us when there is a teacher shortage. It affects us when our infrastructure is failing us. It affects us with a weaker economy in general. And it affects our entire community and morale when so many of our young adults can’t build their future.
Key 33 Details – Show Me 33
If we want to have a healthy community, strong business investment, and strong economy in our district, we need our kids to have the option to get a good college education. I don’t believe college is the only way to success, but I want my doctor, the engineer who designed the local bridge, the IT specialist at my bank, and my Accountant to have gone to college for the training they needed!
And if those folks are my neighbors’ kids that I watched grow up, all the better.
The actions of the current leadership in the state house, including my opponent, do not support the same value system. Specifically, just this session- Amendment 5, which my opponent fully supported, would have been a devastating blow to higher education in Missouri. So, while this trend has been ongoing since the early 2000s, we should be working hard to reverse it immediately.
A Better Path Forward & Conclusion
We have been convinced that there is a political argument about whether the cost of college is worth it or not.
In fact, making it political makes it a false question posed to soften support for a public university system- including our community colleges.
By calling into question if the value of college education is worth it for any given individual, the current leadership distracts us while cutting funding for the system as a whole. And because there is a super majority, colleges must be very careful not to fight back too hard or risk even further limitations and budget cuts.
Don’t believe me? Think the wealthiest among us and politicians don’t think college is worth it? Look where they send their kids after high school.
Shouldn’t our kids have the same choice?
It has been said that education is one of the greatest economic energizers and equalizers in a capitalist system. But while the current leadership, including my opponent, tries to limit this energizing equalizer, I will fight for it.
We need leadership that understands what the public higher education system needs because they are listening to the faculty, the students, the families of the students, and the students’ future employers.
I will do this not just for the students, but for our entire community.