Gov. Nixon announces record higher education funding

Leaders of Missouri’s public community colleges and universities say they’ll freeze undergraduate tuition for the 2016-2017 school year.

The tuition freeze is part of an agreement announced Monday with Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon. He is recommending $55.7 million more in performance funding for higher education next fiscal year. That’s a 6 percent increase and would bring total state higher education funding to $985 million next fiscal year.

College and university leaders agreed to set aside more than $9 million of that money to science, technology, engineering and math programs.

The additional money needs to be approved by state lawmakers in the legislative session beginning in January. College boards also would need to approve a tuition freeze.

Performance funding is awarded based on student retention, graduation rates and other measures.