By Guy Page
A $5 million spending hike would allow the four Vermont State Colleges to keep all campuses open, freeze tuition for the second straight year, maintain student programs and services, and continue valuable innovation, VSC officials told about 30 legislators at a breakfast in Montpelier.
“It’s a challenging time in the college and university game,” Chancellor Jeb Spaulding said. By May there will be four fewer private colleges in Vermont due to closings.
Jeb Spaulding, chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges
Vermonters pay among the very highest tuitions for public colleges and universities in the country, directly due to bottom ranked State support – just 1.7% of state budget for higher ed, lowest in New England. By comparison, Vermont taxpayer funding of PK-12 education is about $19,000 per student, but just $4,500 for public higher education.
Just 18% of college revenue comes from the State. 82% is tuition and other revenue. The $5 million will help raise state college spending to comparable national levels.
Vermont State Colleges are working hard to meet demands of a changing economy, officials said. For example, Castleton University this fall opened a resort and hospitality management degree program in partnership with Killington Resort and a BS – Nursing program in Bennington. Its polling program has been reinstated, albeit at a more reduced level. Castleton enrollment stands at 2400 and had a record 797 new students this fall.
Eighty-three percent of state college students are Vermont residents. Almost half are the first in their families to attend college. Vermont ranks second highest in the nation (after New Hampshire) for students attending colleges out of state.
Read more of Guy Page’s reports at the Vermont Daily Chronicle.
All of VT including college system is suffering from the same leftist rot which is causing residents to flee in droves. We cannot afford to finance another failing system in our failed state.
Its not just VT but university education is becoming a bad life skills choice and not teaching the necessary skills for real-world achievement or success. Has become astronomically expensive with students and families mortgaging their own future simply to start a career. And exists largely to prop administrators and tenured academicians – once again all about the financing of construction and class of ppl whose contribution to society is now passe.
How about let them die? They’re hotspots for the spread of Marxism, and little more.
Need $5M to freeze tuition and keep things running for the colleges. They always need hikes and raise costs for the student’s families. Like government never hear about cutting waste (you know they have). Freeze salaries and operate like a private business. But these are “educators” and common sense is out of their norm. Always have their hands out. Look at the Liberalism on any college campus, that’s their modus operandi. Why support such an environment? I would carefully analyze any institution for my kid to get a quality education, and not be subjected to liberal bias. Professors need “outside world experiences” and not be sheltered.
$5M requires a tax increase. People need a TAX BREAK. The “Educating system” should share. There’s no understanding, just gimme gimme gimme, I want, I want, I want. They may get a temper tantrum otherwise, like a baby.
There’s one “professor” that’s a legislator. His Liberal mindset in a VT college is dangerous to any student. Just look at his proposed legislation. Obviously, no real world common sense attributes.
What about next year and the year after? How much will they need?
Turn them into self supporting ONLINE collages. It’s the only way their going to be able to cut cost and tuition.. it’s past time to change the way collage is done and make
it affordable.. cut administration cut property cut professors…
It’s known as supply and demand. If there is little demand, there is an over supply. If these colleges can’t afford to operate, why not shut them down now rather than pump millions of dollars into them and shut them down later??? Just a dumb question.