House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, announced an $84 million higher education package late Tuesday. Funded in large part using a flood of new federal cash flowing into the state, the plan would send Vermont’s ailing public college system $66.5 million in additional aid, though nearly all of the money would consist of one-time funds.
The proposal “stabilizes our higher education system and provides opportunities to Vermonters to further their career or begin the journey toward new employment,” Krowinski said in a statement.
“We need to commit to policies and initiatives that work toward the long-term recovery of Vermont, and this is one way we can help working families and our business community come back stronger than ever,” she added.
First, though, the speaker’s plan would need to be approved by the House and Senate — and signed into law by Republican Gov. Phil Scott.
A total of $7.2 million in one-time funds would go to the University of Vermont, including $3 million for Covid-19 research. And the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, a public nonprofit that administers scholarships and student loans, would receive $8.1 million over three years to spend on grants and scholarships for Vermonters.
But the bulk of the package would head to the Vermont State Colleges System, which includes the Community College of Vermont, Northern Vermont University, Vermont Technical College and Castleton University. The four schools have set out on a system-wide overhaul in a bid to stay afloat, and Krowinski’s plan would send the system $20 million over four years to spend on transition costs.
The schools would also get $20.5 million to go toward workforce development initiatives in critical shortage areas over the next three to four years and $21 million in one-time money for operating costs.
Long-simmering financial problems at the colleges came to a boil last spring when then-chancellor Jeb Spaulding proposed closing three campuses to keep the system solvent in the wake of the pandemic. (The plan was shelved and Spaulding resigned following public outcry.)
Enrollment at the colleges has been declining for years, in part because of a shrinking college-aged population, but also because of the high cost of attendance. Vermont spends less on public higher education per student than nearly every other state in the country, and students in the Green Mountain State perennially pay some of the steepest public tuition prices in America.
In the short-term, the House plan would more than double the amount of money the colleges receive from the state in a typical year. But in the long-term, the state’s contribution to the system would barely budge.
Consultants hired by lawmakers to analyze the system’s finances were emphatic that the colleges badly needed more ongoing support from the state and recommended Vermont up its annual contribution to the system by more than 50% — from $30 million a year to $47.5. (The consultants’ recommendations, which were adopted by a special legislative panel, also advised aggressive investments in transitional costs.)
By comparison, the speaker’s proposal only commits an extra $5 million to the system’s base appropriation.
Still, Krowinski’s proposal is far more generous than the $20 million in one-time money Scott offered in his January budget proposal. And while it is less than what the colleges have asked for, state colleges chancellor Sophie Zdatny said in an interview she was “very, very happy” with the announcement, calling it “a huge vote of confidence in the Vermont State Colleges.”
“Obviously this is a one-year budget, but I think it lays the groundwork for us moving over a period of time toward getting a $17.5 million increase to our base, which is where we need to be at the end of the transition,” she said.
Linda Olson, vice president of higher education for the American Federation of Teachers-Vermont, the union that represents many state college employees, greeted the announcement as “great news” — albeit in the short-term.
“It’s obviously a band-aid where a tourniquet is necessary. But it’s a good band-aid for a little while,” said Olson, a professor at Castleton University. “I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, that’s horrible.’ But there has to be a real, ongoing commitment to public higher education or we’re not going to survive.”
