Sen. Anthony Pollina, P/D-Washington. Photo by Roger Crowley/VTDigger
State funding for higher education should be appropriated based on the number of Vermonters attending each state university or college, says Sen. Anthony Pollina, P/D-Washington.
Pollina plans to introduce legislation that would change the funding formula for the Vermont State Colleges system.
“The real issue is the deliberate [state] underfunding of the state colleges, and that’s been going on since the 1980s,” Pollina said. “There’s been a big cost shift away from public dollars on to tuition.”
Vermont is near the bottom in state support it gives to its public higher education, Pollina said.
“We’ve chosen to underfund them — it’s a decision we’ve made, it’s not like it’s happened in some mysterious way,” said Pollina. “The question is are we going to do something to make them more affordable again?”
The Vermont State Colleges system includes the Community College of Vermont, Castleton University (formerly Castleton State College), Johnson and Lyndon state colleges, and Vermont Technical College.
Pollina wants to address the difference in state funding for the University of Vermont and the state colleges.
Currently, $67 million in state funds is split between UVM and the VSC system; of that amount, UVM receives $42.5 million, and VSC receives $24.3 million. UVM serves fewer Vermont students than the state colleges.
“Over 70 percent of Vermonters going to in-state public colleges attend the Vermont state colleges and less than 30 percent go to the university,” said Pollina. “The funding should reflect the number of Vermonters attending.”
Improving the state’s support for higher education is directly linked to economic development interests for Vermont, Pollina said.
“We’re concerned about young people leaving the state,” he said. “Keeping young people here for their college years will lead to more young Vermonters getting jobs here and having their families here, he said.
Rep. Tim Jerman, D-Essex Junction, a trustee of the Vermont State Colleges who is also a member of the House Education Committee, agreed with Pollina that improving funding for the state’s colleges is important for the state’s economy.
Rep. Tim Jerman, D-Essex Junction. Photo by Amy Ash Nixon/VTDigger
“Post-secondary education for Vermont students is one of our highest economic development goals,” said Jerman. “Vermont spends very little on higher ed compared to other states now, and the mix of spending we have does not support Vermont students or taxpayers.”
“We do a good job of supporting student financial aid through VSAC grants, but we appropriate almost twice as much to UVM as we do to the Vermont State Colleges, who award twice as many degrees to Vermonters as UVM,” Jerman said. VSC awarded 1,985 degrees to Vermonters in 2014; UVM awarded 1,052.
Pollina wants to direct student loan funding from VSAC to students who are only attending colleges in Vermont. A bill that would eliminate the portability of VSAC grants to out-of-state colleges did not advance through the Legislature last session.
If the state legalizes marijuana, tax revenues should support the Vermont State College system, Pollina says.
VSC chancellor speaks to needs
VSC Chancellor Jeb Spaulding said there are about 12,000 students enrolled across the five colleges; 84 percent of the students are Vermonters.
Jeb Spaulding, chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges. Photo by Amy Ash Nixon/VTDigger
“Half of those Vermonters are first-generation college students,” Spaulding said. “We are the access institutions for the state of Vermont” for higher education.
The VSC system, Spaulding said, works to respond directly to the state’s employment needs and its economy. At Vermont Tech, for example, engineering and nursing programs are growing.
The fiscal pressure on the colleges is real, and finding a way to improve the state’s funding to the VSC system is something Spaulding hopes can be given serious attention in the Legislature.
Among the pressures are the declining number of 18-year-olds in the state, and that state appropriations to the VSC system have been static.
As a result, Spaulding said, “All the pressure goes on tuition.”
“Every enrollment we get is critical to the future, and the budget,” said Spaulding. “Our colleges are working really hard to attract and retain students, and are doing a great job.”
Spaulding said the state has a strong graduation rate but 50 to 60 percent of graduates do not continue to any post-high-school education.
Public higher education has seen the same appropriation amount since fiscal year 2008, said Spaulding.
“I can’t think of very many, if any, other budget items that are the same as they were that many years ago, and this is at a time when we know that it’s more important than ever for Vermonters to have some level of post-secondary education,” he said.
Budget cuts within the system will eventually cut too deep, and threaten to erode the quality of educational offerings, he said.
“I don’t think we’re at that point” yet, said Spaulding, but the challenges faced by the system are real and constant.
In the 1980s, the state supported about half of public higher education budgets; that support has dropped to about 15 percent today.
This coming session, Spaulding said, he’ll be making the case to help “policymakers understand what they’re buying” in investing in the state’s public higher education institutions.
The post Legislator eyes bill to improve VSC funding appeared first on VTDigger.