This commentary is by Linda Olson, a Castleton University professor and co-president for higher education for the American Federation of Teachers Vermont.
Congresswoman Becca Balint held a breakfast meeting with labor union leaders from across Vermont last week, and she opened the conversation with what might be considered an unusual topic for a union meeting. She stated that we have a crisis of loneliness and disconnection — especially among young people — and that crisis has worsened because of the Covid pandemic.
As a faculty member at Castleton University, and a leader in my union, I know that the students who attend the Vermont State University at Castleton, NVU-Johnson, NVU-Lyndon and Vermont Technical College are hungry not only for knowledge, but for connection. The kind of connection that can happen only when people share a meal together, live together, play on an athletic team together and learn together (yes, even in a library).
High school students from wealthy families who want to go to college and have all the connections and opportunities college brings are likely to find a place.
High school students from lower-income, or even moderate-income, working families in Vermont who want to go to college do not have an affordable option open to them. This is because Vermont’s tuition for in-state students is one of the most expensive in the country.
We have one of the highest rates of high school graduation and one of the lowest rates of college attendance. Vermont is succeeding in providing support for exceptional K-12 education and failing miserably in postsecondary public education.
The frustrating thing about this fact is that the public institutions, especially the Vermont State University campuses, are economic engines for the state, and the young people who attend and graduate are likely to stay.
As the second-oldest state in the country, we need to provide support so that our young people will stay, work, buy a home, and raise their children in Vermont.
Last week in the Senate Education Committee, students from the Community College of Vermont, who were able to attend tuition-free (through a program that is ending), gave emotional testimony about how this opportunity had changed their lives. Don’t the low-income students at Vermont State University deserve this same opportunity? After all, this is an investment in the future well-being of Vermont.
Our Vermont State University residential campuses could be accessible to thousands more students from working families, who could build lifelong connections and gain important skills — and yet those dorm rooms and classroom seats are empty, not because students don’t want to come, but because they simply cannot afford to. Making college affordable would benefit our students and our state.
The response to the poor decisions by the Vermont State University administration by students, staff, faculty and community members shows the value of these institutions to our communities and state. Groups have come together and organized events to keep our colleges open, to keep books in our libraries and to keep athletes on the playing field, and Interim President Mike Smith heard our voices and rescinded those decisions, at least for the time being.
And while there is widespread agreement about the terrible decisions of the Vermont State University administration and board of trustees, the underlying problem is that for decades the Vermont Legislature has left students from working families to fend for themselves and to face the terrible decision to either end their education after high school or take on crushing debt.
The Vermont Legislature has been steadily disinvesting in public higher education since 1980. While we are very relieved that the Legislature has provided unprecedented funding to keep our doors open, it also placed a condition on these funds that is unsustainable. The Vermont State University is required to cut $5 million in base costs each year for the next five years. It is this terrible condition of the Vermont Legislature that led the Vermont State University administration to “save” money by cutting funding for athletics and libraries — which looks to be costing us more than we “saved” through declines in enrollment, and increased transfers out of Vermont.
In the short term, if we are to have a vibrant Vermont State University, the Legislature’s demand for cuts must be rescinded.
In the long term, if we want equity for Vermont students, at a minimum, we need to provide the kind of support for working families that Community College of Vermont students briefly had (free tuition) and that the University of Vermont provides on an ongoing basis for working families: free tuition for any student who qualifies for a Pell Grant.
