Photo by Jessica Stewart / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Nathan Schmitz, a Northwest Missouri State University student, leaves campus Thursday afternoon. Mr. Schmitz is retired from the U.S. Navy. A bill before Missouri lawmakers would make college more affordable for Mr. Schmitz and other veterans like him.

A bill before Missouri lawmakers could change the life of a 26-year-old veteran at Northwest Missouri State University.

“I’d have more of one,” Nathan Schmitz said of a having a life if a proposal to limit tuition of combat veterans passes.

It’s also the same proposal a St. Joseph Republican took some heat over when he tried to change it.

Originally from Parnell, Mo., Mr. Schmitz joined the U.S. Navy at age 18 but left the service after six years, specifically to pursue higher education. Many of his friends opted for government contract work after their active duty service ended, but Mr. Schmitz is going after a bachelor’s degree to make himself more attractive in the job market.

The geology major now is in his second year of study at Northwest, where tuition runs $148.60 per credit hour plus fees for in-state undergraduates.

He’s one of 83 students who uses the G.I. Bill to pay for tuition at Northwest, according to fall enrollment figures.

The G.I. Bill covers most of his tuition and fees, but the full-time student had to get a part-time job at a Maryville lumberyard and move into low-income housing to make ends meet. This is the same soldier who was maintaining decoder equipment for the Navy in the Persian Gulf in 2002. His unit was sent there in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy in New York.

Senate Minority Floor Leader Maida Coleman, D-St. Louis, for three years has been trying to help men and women like Mr. Schmitz with a bill that would make college more affordable.

Ms. Coleman’s SB 830 would cap tuition Missouri institutions could charge veterans to $50 per credit hour.

“So many veterans don’t have marketable job skills after leaving the military — and they’ve been killing people,” she said. “This gives them the opportunity to learn job skills so they can improve their lives.”

The veterans would have to maintain a 2.5 grade-point average and have served in armed combat since 9/11.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, attempted to amend the bill last week by making the effort subject to state appropriations each year.

At the request of the University of Missouri, Mr. Shields argued that the state and not the colleges should bear the financial burden of the tuition breaks. He eventually yanked the amendment after encountering staunch criticism. MU’s hourly tuition is closer to $250 per credit hour.

Ms. Coleman said she saw the attempt as an attack on the bill and could have killed it.

Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, criticized Mr. Shields and MU for not affording veterans the tuition relief similar to the discounts faculty family members receive. Mr. Crowell accused Mr. Shields of “yielding to the gimme, gimme, gimme university.”

“All they gotta do is plop another chair in the classroom,” Mr. Crowell said. “... Do you want to vote for the University of Missouri or vote for Missouri veterans?”

Mr. Shields said he didn’t believe his amendment would’ve killed the bill, which he supported. “We all want to be patriotic. The question is, who are we going to be patriotic with?” Mr. Shields asked.

The entire University of Missouri system would have to eat $2.4 million under the original proposal, which would have covered graduate courses.

Now that the bill only limits undergraduate tuition, Ms. Coleman said she believed the MU system would absorb less than half of a million dollars.

MU lobbyist Jim Snider said he believed the university system would have to foot more than that, but didn’t provide a figure he deemed more accurate.

“We support the bill. There’s no question about that,” Mr. Snider said. “The question comes down to whose responsibility is it to pay?”

At least 135 veterans used the G.I. Bill to pay for tuition at Missouri Western State University in 2007, but President Dr. Jim Scanlon said he didn’t believe the $50 tuition cap would have a dramatic effect on university finances.

He pointed to another stipulation of the bill, which requires that any other financial assistance be applied using true tuition rates before the $50 cap kicks in.

Veterans can’t receive more than the actual cost of attendance when the limitation is combined with any other financial assistance made available to them.

“This is not a substantial issue for us,” Dr. Scanlon said. “I recognize and applaud the desire of folks in Jefferson City to reward combat services of veterans.”

So, it doesn’t look like Mr. Schmitz will be moving into a luxurious apartment anytime soon, even if the bill goes through. But with any extra assistance in paying the remaining tuition and fees his G.I. Bill doesn’t, he might be able to “have a life.”

“I wouldn’t have to work all the time,” he said.

For the ex-soldiers who chose more expensive universities, “This would help them so much,” he said.

The Senate gave the bill first-round approval last week. It needs a successful third reading before moving to the House of Representatives.

Alyson E. Raletz can be reached

at alysonraletz@npgco.com.