The head of a special committee examining the high cost of going to college believes Missouri’s public higher education institutions should be financed according to a state formula much like public grade and high schools are funded.

Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, says he doesn’t know exactly how such a formula could be crafted. But he believes the state could allocate money for colleges in a more equitable way. He believes lawmakers should spend as much time developing a higher education funding formula as they did for public elementary and secondary schools.

"I’m troubled by the entire method that we use to fund higher education, which is a baseline budget process," Nodler said. "That’s neither equitable or useful."

Nodler is chairman of the Senate Interim Committee on the Cost of a College Education, which will hold its first meeting Wednesday at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The five-member committee has broad responsibilities to examine college costs, which nearly everyone agrees are too high but no one seems to be in a position to do anything about.

Just last year, a special state House committee examined funding for higher education. It issued a report saying there was an acute need for more financial support for college students but that there was no easy solution to the problem.

Nodler said he could not predict the final outcome of his committee’s work. It has until Jan. 26 to report back to the General Assembly.

The committee’s responsibilities include:

● Considering the role of state funding in the cost of college.

● Examining alternative ways the state funds colleges.

● Studying tuition, student indebtedness and utilization of college savings plans.

It’s a good bet the committee will recommend some combination of the state’s need-based scholarship programs, the Gallagher and the Guarantee programs. Because of the amount of money the state puts into those programs, they reach only about 25 percent of eligible students. At the end of the last legislative session, the Senate debated briefly a plan to combine the need-based programs.

A task force of college officials interested in financial aid has been working with the state Department of Higher Education to come up with changes to the state programs. The task force has recommended the Missouri programs be simplified with the creation of a single need-based state grant program that would be based on a student’s ability to pay for college while taking into account the type of institution the student wants to attend.

Among those scheduled to testify at the committee’s first hearing is Truman State University President Barbara Dixon. She is also the head of an organization of state university presidents. Charles McClain, acting commissioner of higher education, also is on the witness list.

State Sen. Tim Green, D-Spanish Lake, has already weighed in. Green wrote the committee saying there already had been too many studies without enough action.

"Missouri is rated ‘F’ in college affordability by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education," Green wrote. "Once again, a committee has been created to further study the lack of college affordability that plagues Missouri students and their families. It is time to take the results of these studies and craft legislation that helps Missourians afford the rising cost of a quality higher education."