Mississippi Today

Big changes could be coming to state financial aid. Who are the winners and losers?

Published

2 years ago

February 13, 2023

Big changes could be coming to state financial aid. Who are the winners and losers?

by Molly Minta, Mississippi Today
February 13, 2023

House lawmakers last week passed a bill that would dramatically revamp how Mississippi spends taxpayer dollars on college financial aid.

The vote on House Bill 711, sponsored by Rep. Donnie Scoggin, R-Ellisville, marks the furthest a bill to change state financial aid has gotten in the legislative process since talks of redesigning the programs began in 2018.

Supporters of the bill, including the Office of Student Financial Aid, say this effort is succeeding where prior ones failed because it was created by a coalition of powerful officials who, behind closed doors, were able to reach a consensus. What that looks like is, overall, less money for college for low-income students and an increased emphasis on workforce development.

Critics of the bill have questioned whether that trade-off is worth the impact it’ll have on low-income students. In committee meetings and on the House floor, lawmakers so far have focused on how this bill will harm the bottom line of Mississippi’s five regional and historically Black universities.

But these institutions might actually gain money under the proposal, according to an OSFA analysis. Instead, it’s low-income students at the state’s three top-tier research institutions who stand to lose the most dollars under the proposal.

The bill will make big changes to two of Mississippi’s three state financial aid programs: The Mississippi Resident Tuition Assistance Grant, or MTAG, and the Higher Education Legislative Plan for Needy Students, known as the HELP grant.

The Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant, unlike the other programs, does not consider family income. It’s based solely on ACT scores and GPA and is the state’s most racially inequitable program. Under the proposed bill, it would remain untouched.

Mississippi‘s student financial aid programs are not stackable. This means students can only receive one grant at time, whichever one awards them the most money. For example, a student who gets a 30 on the ACT but comes from a family that makes more than $75,000 a year likely qualifies for both MTAG and MESG. But they would only receive MESG, because the grant is higher.

Currently, MTAG awards $500 per year for freshmen and sophomores and $1,000 per year for juniors and seniors. While it is intended to be a broad-based grant — the minimum ACT score required to get it is a 15, lower than the state’s average — it has a significant limitation. Low-income college students who are eligible for the full federal Pell Grant are excluded from receiving this award. This means that most MTAG recipients in Mississippi come from families that, on paper, can already afford to pay for college.

The new MTAG, rebranded “MTAG Works,” would broaden eligibility to include full-Pell-eligible students and part-time students. It will also come with a new income cap. Students from families who make over the median family income, ($74,888 in 2022 for a four-person family, according to the federal government), would no longer be eligible.

By expanding to include part-time students, supporters of the bill hope the new MTAG will be easier for adult students, who tend to go to college part-time while working full-time, to get. MTAG is the only undergraduate state aid program in Mississippi that does not have to be applied for within two years of college graduation. But recipients must be enrolled full-time, a requirement that excludes most adult students.

The grant will also be increased. The award amounts under the bill would be upped to $1,000 for freshmen and sophomores and to $2,000 for juniors and seniors. Students who major in certain subjects deemed “high-value pathways” by the state’s workforce development office will receive an additional $500. It is unclear what majors will be considered “high-value pathways” or how the workforce development office will determine that.

These changes would double the number of students who could get MTAG, according to HCM Strategists, a consulting firm that was hired by a Mississippi-based nonprofit to help write the proposal that became Scoggin’s bill.

All this would entail Mississippi spending an extra $21 million in taxpayer dollars on state financial aid each year.

These changes are complicated and the final award would vary based on test scores, family income, and a student’s year in school. Here’s a sketch of how they might play out for certain kinds of students:

A student from a family that makes more than $39,500 attending Alcorn State University with an ACT of 19:

Cost of tuition for four years: $31,476

Current total state aid: $3,000

New total state award: $6,000

A student with the same family income, attending the same school and with the same ACT score who majors in a “high-value pathway”:

Cost of tuition for four years: $31,476

Current total state aid: $3,000

New total state award: $8,000

A student whose family makes $250,000 a year attending Pearl River Community College full-time with an ACT of 27:

Cost of tuition for two years: $6,500

Current total state aid: $3,000

New total state award: $0

A part-time adult student attending Coahoma Community College:

Cost of tuition for two years: $6,400 or less

Current total state aid: $0

New total state award: $2,000

Though some studies have shown that MTAG is one of the state’s most inefficient college financial aid programs — one lawmaker remarked earlier this session that it can go to any student who “breathes air” — the Office of Student Financial Aid believes these changes will make the grant more effective.

Education policy experts say the higher award amount might not be enough to help students afford college considering the increasing cost of college tuition in Mississippi. They also say the $500 “bonus” is too small an amount to have any effect on student behavior.

MTAG recipients at four-year universities will gain far less money than HELP recipients stand to lose. Where some MTAG recipients who don’t major in a high-value pathway will gain $3,000 in college financial aid over four years, HELP recipients will lose an estimated $9,100 based on the average tuition at the four-year universities, according to a Mississippi Today analysis.

HELP, the only financial aid program geared to low-income students in Mississippi, currently pays the full cost of tuition for all four years of college, no matter what institution a student attends. It is one of the state’s most effective programs, according to studies commissioned by OSFA. HELP recipients — students from families that make less than $39,500 a year – take more credit hours, have higher GPAs, and are more likely to graduate on time than their low-income peers who don’t receive other state financial aid.

The grant is also the state’s most racially equitable. By and large, most HELP recipients — who have higher than average ACT scores based on HELP’s eligibility requirement of a 20 or higher — chose to go to four-year universities.

The bill seeks to re-route where these students attend college by converting the HELP grant into what’s commonly called a “2+2” program. It will reduce the award for freshmen and sophomores to the average cost of tuition at community colleges (roughly $3,300), but juniors and seniors will continue to receive the average cost of tuition at the four-year universities (roughly $8,900).

This change means that future HELP recipients will lose thousands of dollars in financial aid for college.

Here’s what that looks like for HELP recipients over the course of four years:

A low-income student who goes to Mississippi State University for all four years with an ACT score of 28:

Cost of tuition for four years: $36,992

Current total state aid: $36,992 (estimated based on 22-23 tuition)

New total state award: $24,400

A low-income student who goes to Mississippi Valley State University for all four years with an ACT score of 34:

Cost of tuition for four years: $29,096

Current total state aid: $29,096 (estimated based on 22-23 tuition)

New total state award: $24,400

A low-income student who goes to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College with an ACT score of 20:

Cost of full-time tuition for two years: $6,600

Current total state aid: $6,600 (estimated based on 22-23 tuition)

New total state award: $6,600

The extent to which changes to the HELP grant will affect recipients at different universities in Mississippi will depend on a variety of factors, like the cost of tuition at the university they’re attending and whether they qualify for private institutional aid or scholarships.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Senate panel weighs how much — or whether — to cut state taxes

Published

7 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Taylor Vance – 2024-11-04 15:42:00

A group of state senators on Monday grappled with how much to slash state taxes or if they should cut them at all, portending a major policy debate at the Capitol for next year’s legislative session.

The Senate Fiscal Policy Study Group solicited testimony from the state government’s leading experts on budget, economic and tax policies to prepare for an almost certain intense debate in January over how much they should trim state taxes while balancing the need to fund government services.

Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins, a Republican from Flowood whose committee has jurisdiction over tax policy, told Mississippi Today that he wanted senators to have basic facts in front of them before they help decide next year if Mississippi should cut taxes.

“We’re getting a tax cut the next two years whether we do anything or not,” Harkins said. “I just want to make sure we have all the facts in front of people to understand we have a clear picture of how much revenue we’re bringing in.”

Mississippi is already phasing in a major tax cut. After a raucous debate in 2022, lawmakers agreed to phase in an income tax cut. In two years it will leave Mississippi with a flat 4% tax on income over $10,000, one of the lowest rates in the nation.

However, the top two legislative leaders, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann who oversees the Senate and House Speaker Jason White, have both recently said they want legislators to consider new tax cut policies.

Hosemann, the Republican leader of the Senate, has publicly said he would like to see the state’s grocery tax, the highest of its kind in the nation, reduced, though he hasn’t specified how much of a reduction or how long it would take for the cut to be implemented.

White, a Republican from West, said last week that he would like to see the state’s 4% income tax phased out and have the state’s 7% grocery tax cut in half over time.

“We are hoping to construct a tax system that, yes, prioritizes certain needs in our state, but it also protects and rewards taxpayers,” White said last week.

But it’s difficult to collect accurate data on the state’s grocery tax, and state lawmakers must grapple with a laundry list of spending needs and obligations based on testimony from state agency leaders on Monday.

Mississippi currently has a 7% sales tax, which is applied to groceries. The state collects the tax but remits 18.5% back to cities. For many municipalities, the sales tax is a significant source of revenue.

If state lawmakers want to reduce the grocery tax without impacting cities, they could pass a new law to change the diversion amounts or appropriate enough money to make the municipalities whole.

State Revenue Commissioner Chris Graham said the Mississippi Department of Revenue, the agency in charge of collecting state taxes, does not have a mechanism in place for accurately capturing how much money cities collect in grocery taxes. This is because the tax on groceries is the same as non-grocery items.

However, Graham estimates that the state collects roughly $540 million in taxes from grocery items.

The other problem lawmakers would have in implementing significant tax cuts is a growing list of spending needs in Mississippi, a state with abject poverty, water and sewer and other infrastructure woes and some of the worst health metrics in the nation.

Representatives from the Legislative Budget Office, the group that advises lawmakers on tax and spending policy, told senators that lawmakers will also be faced with rising costs in the public employee retirement system, the Medicaid budget, public education, state employee health insurance, and state infrastructure projects.

State agencies, including the employee retirement system, also requested $751 million more for the coming budget year.

“That’s the billion dollar question, I guess,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Briggs Hopson, a Republican from Vicksburg, said. “How we’re able to fund basic government services?”

Harkins and Hopson said the committee would likely meet again before the Legislature convenes for its 2025 session on January 7.

A House committee on tax cuts has also been holding hearings, and White in September held a summit on tax policy.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Already dire lack of affordable housing for low-income Mississippians on verge of worsening

Published

11 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Simeon Gates – 2024-11-04 11:00:00

In Mississippi, where there’s already a dearth of 50,000 or more affordable homes for extremely low-income residents, that number could grow in the next five years.

Housing units available under the federal Low Income Tax Credit program could lose their affordability by 2030 –a number estimated nationwide to be 350,000 with 2,917 in Mississippi, alone; 496 in the state already have.

The federal program responsible for most of the nation’s affordable housing is expiring.

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit, introduced as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, provides for developers to buy, build and restore low-income housing units. Under the deal, the housing only needs to stay low-rent for 30 years. Construction began in the early 1990s.

Some LIHTC housing will remain affordable due to other subsidies, nonprofits, state law and individual landlords.

“I think the low-income housing tax credit has done everything that it can to address the need for affordable housing around the state,” said Scott Spivey, executive director of the Mississippi Housing Corporation, a state office that administers the program and works with the state government and those in the affordable housing industry to create and support affordable housing

Spivey supports the proposed Affordable Housing Credit and Improvement Act, a federal bill that would expand upon the low-income housing tax credit in several ways, including giving developers more credit for certain projects for low-income households and changing tenant eligibility rules.

The bill was introduced in the House and the Senate last session, and is co-sponsored by Mississippi Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker and in the House by Reps. Mike Ezell, and Michael Guest. As of this spring, both bills are in committee.

While housing has become a major issue for Americans, getting legislation passed has been challenging. “Everybody knows that housing is an issue, but it gets caught up with everything else…and it kind of gets lost in the shuffle,” said Spivey.

This issue is especially important in Mississippi, where demand for housing is high across all incomes.

“All the market studies that we see that come with the applications tell us that there’s a huge need for affordable housing across the state at all the income bands” said Spivey.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, almost a third of Mississippi renters are extremely low income; 65% of them are severely cost burdened, meaning they spent more than half their income on rent. The majority of these households are seniors, disabled people, single caregivers of young children, people enrolled in school, or other.

Director of Housing Law at the Mississippi Center for Justice, Ashley Richardson said housing problems worsened after Mississippi stopped participating in the federal rental assistance program in 2022.

MCJ’s work on housing includes a statewide eviction hotline, investigating instances of housing discrimination, and more.

Richardson praised the LIHTC program, but echoed Spivey’s concerns. “Even with the affordable housing we do have in Mississippi, we are still at a lack,” she said.

The National Housing Preservation Database estimates Mississippi is short 52,421 affordable and available rental homes for low-income people. The National Low Income Housing Coalition puts the figure at 49,478.

Richardson wants the state to deal with issues like providing more tenant protections and rental assistance. There’s also a need to improve homes that are rundown or in poor condition, and many housing nonprofits are running out of funding.

Spivey said people should talk to their property managers and learn about their rights. MHC’s website has resources for homebuyers and renters.

As the housing crisis goes on, there are options for people struggling to find and keep affordable housing and an effort to take action at the federal and state levels.

Some aspiring low-income homeowners may qualify for Habitat for Humanity, a program that builds homes for families in need. Families who qualify work on the homes alongside volunteers, pay an affordable mortgage and receive financial literacy education.

New applicants must meet the qualifications, including a good debt-income ratio, 125 hours of sweat equity and taking classes on financial literacy, home repairs, and being a good neighbor.

Merrill McKewen, executive director for Habitat for Humanity Mississippi Capital Area, emphasized the importance of housing to individuals and communities.

“There are untold studies that have been done that, you’ve gotta have a safe, decent, affordable place to live. The children are better students, the parents are better employees…it grounds you to a community that you can contribute to and be a part of. It is the American dream, to own a home, which is what we’re all about,” she said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Mississippi Election 2024: What will be on Tuesday’s ballot?

Published

11 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-11-04 10:00:00

Mississippians will go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 5, to elect federal and state judicial posts and some local offices, such as for election commissioners and school board members.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. To find your polling place, use the secretary of state’s locator, or call your local county circuit clerk.

The following is a list of the candidates for federal and judicial posts with brief bios:

President

Kamala Harris, current vice president and Democratic nominee for president. Her running mate is Tim Walz.
Donald Trump, former president and current Republican nominee. His running mate is J.D. Vance.
Robert Kennedy Jr. remains on the ballot in Mississippi even though he has endorsed Trump. His running mate is Nicole Shanahan.
Jill Stein is the Green Party candidate. Her running mate is Rudolph Ware.
Five other candidates will be on the Mississippi ballot for president. For a complete list of presidential candidates, see the sample ballot.

U.S. Senate

Ty Pinkins is the Democratic nominee. He is a Rolling Fork native and attorney, representing, among other clients, those alleging unfair working conditions. He served 21 years in the U.S. Army, including combat stints, other overseas deployment and posts in the White House,
Roger Wicker is the Republican incumbent senator. He resides in Tupelo and has served in the U.S. Senate since late 2007 after first being appointed to fill a vacancy by then-Gov. Haley Barbour. He was elected to the post in 2008. He previously served in the U.S. House and as a state senator. He is an attorney and served in the United States Air Force.

House District 1

Dianne Black is the Democratic nominee. She is a small business owner in Olive Branch in DeSoto County.
Trent Kelly is the Republican incumbent. He was elected to the post in a special election in 2015. He previously served as a district attorney and before then as a prosecuting attorney for the city of Tupelo. He is a major general in the Mississippi Army National Guard.

House District 2

Bennie Thompson is the Democratic incumbent. He was first elected to the post in 1993. Before then, he served as a Hinds County supervisor and as alderman and then as mayor of Bolton.
Ronald Eller is the Republican nominee. He grew up in West Virginia and moved to central Mississippi after retiring from the military. He is a physician assistant and business owner.

House District 3

Michael Guest is the Republican incumbent and is unopposed.

House District 4

Mike Ezell is the Republican incumbent first being elected in 2022. He previously served as Jackson County sheriff.
Craig Raybon is the Democratic nominee. Raybon is from Gulfport and began a nonprofit “focused on helping out the community as a whole.”

Central District Supreme Court

Jenifer Branning currently serves as a member of the state Senate from Neshoba County.
Byron Carter is a Hinds County attorney and previously served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Armis Hawkins.
James Kitchens is the incumbent. He has served on the state’s highest court since 2008.
Ceola James previously served on the Court of Appeals.
Abby Gale Robinson is a Jackson attorney. She previously was a commercial builder.

Southern District Supreme Court

Dawn Beam is the incumbent, having been first appointed in 2016 by then-Gov. Phil Bryant and later winning election to the post. She is a former chancellor for the Hattiesburg area.
David Sullivan is an attorney in Harrison County and has been a municipal judge in D’Iberville since 2019. His father, Michael, previously served on the state Supreme Court.

Northern District Supreme Court seats

Robert Chamberlin of DeSoto County is unopposed.
James Maxwell of Lafayette County is unopposed.

Court of Appeals 5^th District seat

Ian Baker is an assistant district attorney in Harrison County.
Jennifer Schloegel is a Chancery Court judge for Harrison, Hancock and Stone counties.
Amy St. Pe is a Municipal Court judge in Gautier.