On Funding to Support Affordable Public Higher Education

This appeared as an editorial in the Herald of Randolph, November 13, 2014. 

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This is a difficult time for higher education. Declining enrollments, due to what some have called a “demographic iceberg”, have left some colleges and universities struggling to fill classrooms. Student loans, once considered open to all, are more difficult to obtain, making it more difficult for students to obtain funding. Vermont is in a unique situation, as dwindling state appropriations for the Vermont State Colleges have necessitated consistent tuition increases. Now is the time to assess state appropriations for the Vermont State Colleges, the University of Vermont, and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, to ensure that each is as effective as possible in making available to Vermonters a quality, affordable experience in higher education.

 

Affordable access to a college education is critical. A bill passed in the spring of 2014 (formerly S.40, now Act 148) established a study group to assess Vermont’s investments in higher education, and to find a way to return state funding for higher education back to 1980 levels. This group includes representatives from UVM, VSAC, and the Vermont State Colleges, and has met numerous times at the State House in Montpelier. The only new plan that has been presented to the Act 148 study group was created by AFT VT, in collaboration with representatives from UVM and the VSC Faculty Federation.

 

Rather than reallocating existing monies, and while still calling for increased state appropriations, this plan identified potential new sources of funding for the VSC and UVM, including new taxes on break open lottery tickets, changes to how Vermont taxes funds stored in overseas tax shelters, and how the state uses the federal domestic production deduction.

 

Also, the plan submitted to the Act 148 committee by the AFT VT not only proposes a limit on unrestricted portability of VSAC funds, to encourage more Vermonters to attend college in Vermont, but also increases investment in public higher education in Vermont. Currently, millions of dollars of state appropriations for higher education are provided by VSAC, to students who choose to go elsewhere for college. These funds may be better spent on investing in Vermont’s own institutions, instead of incentivizing college-bound Vermonters to seek higher education outside of Vermont.  

 

In conjunction with dismal state appropriations for the VSC since 1980, declining enrollments have created a major structural problem. The plan proposed by AFT VT caps expenditures on administrative costs at both UVM and within the VSC, increasing investment in instructional costs. The role of the state legislature cannot be underestimated in determining responsibility for the State Colleges.

 

Discussion of how Vermont invests in its systems of public higher education is critical. The public is encouraged to attend and participate in the penultimate meeting of the Act 148 study group, scheduled for November 14^th 2014, at 10 AM in Room 10 of the State House in Montpelier.