[T]he Vermont Student Assistance Corp. is urging lawmakers to preserve a program that provides 3,800 low- and middle-income students with grants to pursue higher education and training opportunities out of state.
Legislators have considered proposals this session that would limit the availability of these education grants to students who use them to cover in-state tuition costs.
But eliminating the “portability” of this funding, or the flexibility for students to use the grants to pay for out-of-state programs, would limit or deny educational opportunities for thousands of low-income students, according to VSAC’s president, Scott Giles.
“These are not funds that are going directly to institutions,” Giles said. “This is money that is being used by Vermont families and if this money were not available to them they would have to find other ways to fill that financial gap or choose not to go to school.”
For years, politicians have debated whether to restrict the portability of grants made by VSAC, a nonprofit agency established by the Legislature in 1965. Supporters of such restrictions say state-funded financial aid shouldn’t be leaving Vermont.
Eliminating the program would generate up to $5.5 million more in grants Vermonters could use to attend in-state institutions, proponents say.
Rep. Barbara Rachelson, D-Burlington, introduced a bill (H.114) in January that would only allow students to use the VSAC grants to attend in-state higher education programs and programs in states that have grant “reciprocity” agreements with Vermont.
States with reciprocity accept Vermont’s grants and allow their students to use grants to attend Vermont colleges.
According to Rachelson, Vermont is one of only two states that allows “total portability,” meaning its grants can be used to cover tuition at any accredited institution of higher education in the U.S. The only other state with total portability is Rhode Island.
Rachelson’s bill is before the House Committee on Education.
In an interview, she said Vermont’s public colleges are funded at an “embarrassing” level and its students and their families incur 25 percent more debt for a bachelor’s degree than the national average.
“In a perfect world, I get that we would allow Vermonters to experience other places,” Rachelson said. “But in an age where Vermont ranks high in how much debt our Vermont students must take on, it’s problematic.”
However, while thousands of VSAC grants are awarded to students who leave Vermont each year, most are provided to students who stay in-state.
Only about 30 percent of students who receive VSAC grants attend out-of-state institutions; these grants represent about 26 percent of the dollars the organization gives to grantees each year, Giles said.
The average annual award to a student who attends an out-of state program is $1,456, lower than than average award to students attending Vermont institutions: just under $2,400, according to Giles.
But Giles stressed that the out-of-state grants are crucial for many Vermonters.
Some low-income students may only be able to attend the college that’s closest to them, Giles said. In certain parts of the state, that may mean an institution across the border in Massachusetts or New Hampshire.
Other students may need to go out of state to attend a specific program that’s not available in Vermont.
“For some, this about denying them the opportunity that will allow them to obtain the education or training to pursue specific career goals,” he said.
Rachelson said she’d be open to including a provision in her bill to allow students to use grants to attend the schools closest to them. But she’s skeptical of the argument that students can’t find the right programs in Vermont.
She added that through the compact the state has with other New England states, students can already attend programs that may not be available locally at public colleges outside Vermont.
The Senate Committee on Education also considered a bill (S.257) this session that included a provision to limit VSAC grant portability. That provision, however, was scrapped after members split 3-3 on whether to move forward with it, according to the committee’s chair, Sen. Phil Baruth, D-Chittenden.
The American Federation of Teachers championed the Senate proposal in written testimony it submitted to the committee in January.
“Given our fiscal situation, it’s time that Vermont limit the use of tax-dollars to subsidize out-of-state colleges and universities, especially because those states are unwilling to use financial aid to subsidize their students’ migration to Vermont,” wrote Allison Aguilar, a senior research associate with the organization.
Giles said he’s glad the Senate committee ultimately decided against limiting the portability of VSAC grants. But he added that there’s still time this year for like-minded proposals to pop up and gain momentum.
“Our concern is that we’re only halfway through the legislative session at this point and we can’t predict what’s going to happen over the course of the next 6-10 weeks,” he said. “The stakes are very, very high for these families.”
