Every graduating senior in the state of Vermont is now eligible for a free class at the Community College of Vermont, thanks to a “graduation gift” from the McClure Foundation.
The McClure Foundation, a nonprofit focused on expanding access to education in Vermont, announced the gift at Gov. Phil Scott’s press conference Wednesday, and is now offering any of the state’s approximately 5,000 graduating seniors a free CCV course of their choosing.
Joyce Judy, president of CCV, said she has “no idea” how many students might take the foundation up on the offer, but said the foundation is prepared to pay for all 5,000 students, if all 5,000 sign up.
“I think in a traditional year, it would be easier to come up with a range,” said Carolyn Weir, executive director of the McClure Foundation. “But there’s just so much uncertainty right now, especially for families who have had income affected by Covid.”
On average, a class at CCV costs $1,000. If every graduating senior signed up for a course, that would put the foundation on the hook for about $5 million. The new gift comes in addition to $400,000 the McClure Foundation has already donated in 2020 to making education and training pathways in Vermont more accessible and affordable, a big portion of which involved CCV.
“We know the uncertainty around Covid-19 is likely going to cause many young people who are graduating to defer their college enrollment,” Weir said. “We want it to be easy for students to keep their momentum up and continue their education after high school.”
But equally important to them, Weir said, is that every senior who enrolls in a course at CCV will have access to a CCV counselor who can help them choose the right class, identify goals, and navigate their future.
“Our hope is that students interested in this are able to work with their adviser to chart a path that will hopefully grow enrollment in CCV and in the Vermont college landscape more broadly,” Weir said.
Judy said it’s possible that means there’s a big increased workload for CCV’s advisers, but said if they needed to add staff to keep up, that would be the “best problem we could have.”
However, Judy said the gift really isn’t about CCV, or keeping up its enrollment. She said unlike other colleges in the Vermont State Colleges System, which are largely residential, CCV has a model that can shrink or grow depending on the year. She also noted that for community colleges, times of job uncertainty, like the past several months, can actually be times where they see big boosts in enrollment, as people look to adapt their skills to better fit the job market.
“This is really about trying to encourage all Vermonters to continue their education, and removing the barrier of finances so that more students can do that,” Judy said, adding that to her, it’s more about getting Vermont students in college at all, not about getting students enrolled at CCV specifically.
CCV is one of the most expensive community colleges in the country, she said, so even though tuition is much cheaper than that of the state’s four-year colleges and universities, it can still be a big barrier to entry for Vermont students.
“For $1,000 a course? Not all families have that kind of discretionary income,” Judy said, noting that this will be an interesting experiment to see how removing the cost barrier changes the numbers of Vermonters accessing this kind of higher education.
Weir said the foundation recognizes that many graduating students already have plans to attend a four-year college in the fall. She said she doesn’t expect the gift to change plans for many of those students, but rather, is intended to spark interest in higher education for students that might not have had a plan.
“We are thrilled the McClure Foundation chose to make this huge investment on behalf of Vermont,” Judy said. “I hope the class of 2020 realizes what a gift this is, and takes advantage of it.”
