By Cameron Montemayor
St. Joseph News-Press
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Missouri is pioneering new opportunities for a wide range of public safety personnel to further their education with free tuition awards for eligible members and their dependents.
Public safety personnel with at least six years of service will now be eligible for free college tuition awards worth up to 100% of their resident tuition charges under a new law signed this July by Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, called the Public Safety Retention and Recruitment Act.
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The new law applies to a wide range of positions, including firefighters, EMTs, police, sheriff’s officers, advanced EMTs, paramedics and telecommunicator first responders residing in Missouri and requires them to commit to a university or community college within the state to receive an award.
I think it’s fantastic,” St. Joseph Police Department Recruiting Officer and seven-year veteran Ethan Miles said. “I have not seen a whole lot of other places that offer anything close to what this offers.
Miles said he receives questions from prospective hires about tuition assistance nearly every day, praising the law for opening new doors for so many public safety officers to either finish or pursue their degree, boosting their qualifications and benefitting departments and communities as a whole.
For active public safety members seeking awards, the law is designed to ensure that degree programs are related to public safety and public safety-oriented fields. Individuals who have already earned a baccalaureate degree are ineligible to use the tuition award to earn another degree.
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