higher education

The University of Missouri Board of Curators has approved a new $130 million building and new Ph.D. programs for the campus in Rolla.

Harris-Stowe State University, a historically Black college in St. Louis, is no longer at risk of losing its accreditation after an independent review found the school had made improvements to help student performance.

Missouri State officials also said that racist graffiti was found in a bathroom on campus Thursday afternoon. Racist text messages also targeted students at the University of Missouri-Columbia and schools around the country.

The University of Kansas informed students this month that it's consolidating several diversity-related organizations into one new Student Engagement Center. Opponents say the move is an unnecessary reaction to political pressure.

Lincoln University, a Missouri HBCU, announced plans to disengage from its alumni association, just months after the group issued a vote of no confidence against the Board of Curators following the death of Antoinette "Bonnie" Candia-Bailey.

University of Missouri's Black Studies Department demanded that MU Chancellor and UM System President Mun Choi apologize for suggesting the use of “Black” in an event name implies exclusion. The department also noted declining Black student enrollment.

Nearly every college and university in the Kansas City area is seeing record-high enrollment rates. Some schools attribute their success to making college more accessible to lower-income and nontraditional students, while others credit the campus atmosphere.

Some public and private colleges in Missouri are sending graduating high school seniors acceptance letters even though the students never applied. The direct admission program is in seven Missouri schools this semester.

Local nonprofit Great Jobs KC offers college scholarships to high school students and adults from the Kansas City area. Over two-thirds of the scholarships go to students of color.

Haskell, a four-year college in Lawrence operated by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education, has come under scrutiny over its response to allegations from students — including a failure to act on sexual abuse claims and a culture of retaliation.

This year's new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid was delayed and glitchy, so many students struggled to complete it. College classes start soon, so education professionals are still helping students fill it out to get financial aid.

The rulings from Kansas and Missouri federal judges put on hold the federal government helping many of the intended borrowers ease their loan repayment burdens starting July 1. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach had led lawsuits from several GOP states.