By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Two college scholarship programs in Missouri have been spared the budget axe.
Members of the House Budget Committee were poised to curtail the academically-based Bright Flights scholarship and the needs-based Access Missouri scholarship.
But House Budget Vice-chairman Rick Stream (R, Kirkwood) says they were able to secure funding from Washington and from other sources.
"We only have a small part of it so far...we don't know how much we're going to get, what strings are going to be attached, and when we're going to get it and when we're allowed to use it...there are a lot of unknowns about that money," Stream said.
But Stream indicates they know enough to justify reversing the planned cuts to the scholarships.
Committee members are working to approve the entire 2010 state budget before leaving for Spring Break Thursday.