UMass should prioritize serving state residents
It’s not easy living in Massachusetts. If it’s not the state Legislature gleefully hiking taxes, fees and their own pay, it’s the state colleges reeling in fat outof-state tuition payments and putting your kid on the back burner.
This week the Herald reported that gaining admission to the University of Massachusetts Amherst is, on average, more difficult for state residents than for those who live outside the state.
The school is more than happy to accept your tax dollars — that intake process is running smoothly. But accepting your children as students is another story.
Mary Connaughton of the Pioneer Institute told Herald Radio, “From 2010 to 2016, across the board, the high school GPAs were higher for in-state students that were accepted than for outof-state students. Believe it or not, the average in-state student accepted into UMass Amherst has a high school GPA of 3.97. Out of state it’s 3.79.”
Are we just too smart for our own good?
Nope. It’s all about money. “For the average in-state student, it’s about $30,000 all-in (to attend UMass). It’s closer to $48,000 for an out-of-state student,” said Connaughton. “So that differential goes right into the UMass coffers. So there is definitely an incentive to try to get more out-of-state students in to help subsidize the in-state students, but what’s happening is they’re doing it at the peril of in-state students because instate students are getting rejected or wait-listed.”
This should not be the case. Forsaking in-state students in favor of a cash grab hardly seems necessary, judging by the UMass Amherst website, which brags about its fundraising achievements.
“In 2016 the university completed the most successful private fundraising effort in the history of public higher education in the commonwealth. Thanks to more than 103,000 alumni and friends, the campaign handily exceeded its $300 million goal, raising a total of $379 million,” it reads.
And then of course, there is the money you give to UMass voluntarily or involuntarily.
According to Connaughton, “In 2017, $720 million was appropriated from the state to fund the entire UMass system.”
UMass President Marty Meehan makes over $600G a year. Do we not think that is symbolic of the kind of spending happening there?
Ed Blaguszewski, a spokesman for UMass Amherst, said increasing the percentage of nonresident students has helped offset cuts in state funding, which now accounts for only 21 percent of the school’s operating budget.
It shows a level of audacity unique to taxpayer-funded institutions to cry poor mouth when the spigot flows even a trickle less.
“Creating a diverse educational environment that includes students from across the country and the world is invaluable in preparing our young people to succeed in a highly competitive global economy and to nurture a civil society,” Blaguszewski said in a statement.
While UMass is saving the world, your kid is driving an Uber because a not-as-smart kid from Elephant Butte, N.M., has taken his slot at UMass and is learning to “nurture a civil society,” whatever that means.
It is time to end this nonsense. We need to put caps on the number of out-of-state students who are admitted to the University of Massachusetts. The state school is supposed to prioritize residents of the commonwealth and it is not happening adequately at the moment.
We know universities and colleges are programmed to make money and expand. That is to be expected — a college is a business and if you’re not growing you’re dying.
On the other hand, UMass is meant to be something special for residents of this state. It offers an opportunity for “affordable” higher education, so when its mission is perverted we should care. Taking taxpayers’ money and shutting them out of their rightful opportunities is a great way to nurture an uncivil society.