[T]uition at schools in the Vermont State Colleges system will go up again in the fall of 2019.
The VSC board of trustees last month approved a nearly 3 percent hike across programs at the system’s four schools, which include the Community College of Vermont, Castleton University, Vermont Technical College and Northern Vermont University.
In dollars, the per-credit hour increases will range from $8 for Vermont residents at CCV to $1,008 for an international student studying nursing at Vermont Tech. Fees will also go up by about 3 percent.
“It’s necessary, unfortunately, to keep up the cost of faculty and staff salary increases, and recognizing that enrollment is not rising like it was in previous decades,” said VSC Chancellor Jeb Spaulding.
In-state tuition and fees at Vermont’s state colleges, which cost on average $16,040 last year, were the second-highest in the country that academic year, according to the College Board.
The high cost is in large part tied to low state funding for higher education. During the 2016-17 school year, the state of Vermont contributed an average of $2,990 per student to the VSC schools — less than any other state in the country, according to the College Board.
During the legislative session before last, lawmakers approved $3 million in additional funding for the state system. The hike represented a roughly 12 percent increase in state appropriations to the system, Spaulding said. But the Legislature didn’t increase its contribution this session.
“That was a major victory for us. It was the largest increase in many decades. But, you know, if you get it once and you’re back to level funding this year — that’s not going to work out in the long run,” he said.
Trustees also approved a $1 million loan to Castleton, which underwent a spate of layoffs and buyouts this year to address a $1.5 million shortfall. The loan won’t affect those personnel changes, VSC officials said, but instead help smooth the college’s financial restructuring efforts as it implements cost-saving measures. The state colleges system has made similar loans in the past to Vermont Tech, Spaulding said.
Castleton saw 26 people — about 5 percent of its workforce — leave through a mix of early retirement and layoffs, Dean of Advancement Jeff Weld said. But the school is finally seeing some new scholarships and articulation agreements pay off, and expects to see about 100 more new students this fall than it did last year.
“The nice thing about that is that this is sustainable growth. It’s not a one-time shot in the arm,” he said.
