AFT Vermont released a report entitled "Reclaiming the Promise for Affordable Public Higher Education in Vermont" Friday at the Vermont State House. Faculty members, a student, and Vermont legislators gathered to highlight the decades of disinvestment in the Vermont State Colleges and University of Vermont and to call for renewed commitment to funding from the state.
"For 35 years the state has neglected public higher education, placing a significant burden on Vermont families as they struggle to pay one of the highest tuitions in the country," explained Linda Olson, vice president of higher education for AFT Vermont. "When the Vermont State Colleges were created, the state's commitment was to fund them 'in whole or substantial part.' We are here to reclaim that promise."
Lynn Castro, a junior at Castleton State College, described the tension between seeing college as the primary source of class mobility, while having to enter into debt to afford to attend college. She noted, "College becomes a debt sentence forcing students into monumental debt that actively works to put us into sure economic failure."
Representative Barbara Rachelson (D-Chittenden 6-6) noted that Vermont's average student debt is $27,318 and Vermont students and their families incur 25% more debt for a bachelor's degree than the national average. "Vermont is second to last for affordable education," Rachelson explained.
Rachelson announced that she will be introducing a bill to limit the "portability" of VSAC grants for students, keeping the funding in the state or only allowing it in states that have reciprocity agreements with Vermont. She noted this would not cost the state any additional money, but would make up to$5.5 million available for Vermont students to attend Vermont higher education institutions.
Senator David Zuckerman (P/D-Chittenden) stated, "If we don't act, we will jeopardize our state's economic future by saddling our students with too much debt. What will our future economy be if everyone starts out with so much debt in their 20s that they can't be part of a healthy economic engine?"
Senator Anthony Pollina (P/D-Washington) announced his plan to introduce a bill that would address one of the goals outlined in the report - strengthening the higher education trust fund. The bill would assess a $2 occupancy fee on hotel rooms in Vermont, and half of the funds raised would be dedicated to higher education funding, with a significant portion being deposited into the higher education trust fund.
Pollina explained his reasons for introducing this bill, stating, "Making college education affordable means more graduates, which means more income earned and more tax revenues, as well as less reliance on state programs. We need to do what we can to reclaim the promise and make sure that our state colleges and university are affordable for Vermont students."
Ben Johnson, president of AFT Vermont, noted that the list of recommendations in the report is a long one. "It has taken us decades to create this problem, and we will need to be aggressive to address the higher education affordability crisis we havein Vermont."
Source: AFT Vermont. 2.13.2015. The Reclaiming the Promise report can be found here: http://vt.aft.org/new-report-reclaim-promise-affordable-public-higher-education-vermont