Carl Bearden writes about scholarships and higher education in the South East Missourian:

I have long believed that it is the students who are our future, and the institutions they choose to attend are the vessels for preparing them for that future. We can and should support both.

Bearden explains that students can use Missouri’s "Gallagher" and "Guarantee" scholarships to attend public or private colleges.

Those scholarships allow students to choose schools that meet their specific needs. And contrary to the critics who warn that vouchers will hurt the public schools, we haven’t seen a mass exodus from the University of Missouri. Why not expand the scholarship programs to include students in grades K-12? Missouri could follow Utah’s lead and bring parental choice to students in the grades before college.