MO HB1619

Establishes the "Twenty-first Century Scholars Program" administered by the Department of Higher Education to reduce high school dropouts, increase college enrollment, and improve economic outcomes for low-income students.

Eligible students must be Missouri residents in eighth grade, qualify for free or reduced lunches, maintain a 2.0 GPA, graduate from high school, and agree to avoid illegal drug use, criminal activity, truancy, and delinquency.

Creates the "Twenty-first Century Scholars Fund" to provide annual tuition scholarships covering resident tuition and mandatory fees at Missouri institutions of higher education, renewable for up to eight semesters.

Scholarship amounts vary by institution type: full tuition at state institutions, average of state institution tuition at private institutions, or actual tuition at other postsecondary institutions, reduced by any other tuition-specific financial assistance received.

Requires participating institutions to develop mentoring programs providing academic and social counseling for scholarship recipients, and allows the commissioner of higher education to adopt rules for program implementation.