Education remains a big deal in the Missouri governor's race, and Hulshof has set his priorities for future college students.

At the top of his list--improving Missouri's national ranking in educational funding. Missouri ranks 47th in the U.S. for the amount of funding for public colleges and universities. Hulshof says he has a plan to turn that number around.

"I want to take us in another direction," Hulshof said.

The four-part plan includes the following:

1. Increasing the pool for need-based scholarships. In the past four years, available scholarship money grew, but Hulshof says he wants to increase this number even more.
2. Emphasizing sciences, engineering, and math through the Missouri Prosperity Initiative.
3. Using a new formula to allocate funding for Missouri colleges and universities. Funding for Missouri schools would go up by the rate of inflation, plus two percent.
4. Requiring more reports detailing how education funding is spent. According to the plan, taxpayers wouldn't be paying for all of these programs. Private companies and organizations would match funding from the state for the missouri prosperity initiative.

In response, Nixon's camp says Hulshof twice opposed scholarships like the program he supported Wednesday.