A mid-Missouri college is stepping up to help military students caught in the uncertainty of the government shutdown.
Columbia College is doing so through the “You Stand For Us, We Stand By You” program.
Vice President and Provost Dr. Sandy Hamar told Missourinet that they started hearing concerns about tuition funding.
“We started to see our military students unenroll,” said Hamar. “And so, we got our leaders in a room and said, ‘what can we do? ‘We now will allow a student to enroll in classes, and we’ll go ahead and cover that tuition assistance that they would normally get from the government but aren’t right now.”
Hamar said she already heard several moving stories.
“And they’re in their last one or two classes, and they thought that they were going to have to put that on hold to find out that they’ll still be able to enroll, that we’re covering the tuition assistance,” said Hamar. “They’ll still be able to graduate in December, has been a miracle for them.”
Hamar told Missourinet that Columbia College is proud to be a military friendly college.
“Our President, he’s a retired Lieutenant Colonel and decorated himself from the military,” said Hamar. “Took him about five minutes to approve a plan where we now will allow a student to enroll in classes and we’ll go ahead and cover that tuition.”
Hamar says the college has already received positive feedback from military students grateful for the support during a time of uncertainty.
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