By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis – The University of Missouri will set aside $10 million for a scholarship fund to settle a class-action lawsuit. Plaintiffs alleged the school illegally charged tuition to in-state undergraduates for more than a decade.
The agreement was tentatively approved by a St. Louis County Circuit court judge.
The lawsuit alleged the Board of Curators violated a statute passed in 1939 by charging educational fees per credit hour beginning in 1986. The law applied to all four campuses including Columbia, St. Louis, Kansas City and Rolla. Lawmakers repealed the statute in 2001.
The statute of limitations would allow 104,000 undergraduates who attended between January of 1995 and August of 2001 to be beneficiaries.
They, their spouses and children may qualify for scholarships over the next 25 years.