The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Lamont’s decision on free college decried
State education officials and legislators have said for weeks that they were confident Gov. Ned Lamont would fully fund debt-free community college for all, until Lamont announced Wednesday that he wants to limit eligibility to students who have graduated within the last year and who have family incomes below the state’s median.
The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system requested $18.3 million to cover tuition and fees for all first-time, full-time, in-state community college students. That was pared down in Lamont’s recommended budget adjustments to $2.5 million, and will cover far fewer students.
“I’m extremely disappointed that the governor has decided to make these proposed changes,” said Rep. Gregg Haddad, DMansfield, co-chair of the higher education committee. “I think the program, as it was originally constructed, is what’s needed in Connecticut.”
The legislature intended for the program to be funded by online lottery sales, which have not yet been authorized.
“We began to go back and evaluate the ways to roll out a program that was more in alignment with the revenue source that was identified for this program,” Office of Policy and Management Secretary Melissa McCaw said. Projections for iLottery revenues start at $1.5 million, “therefore a program at $19 million could not be supported with that revenue source.”
To qualify under Lamont’s limits, students must have graduated high school within 12 months of enrolling, and must have an Expected Family Contribution below $7,500. That amount is calculated based on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which factors in students’ and parents’ income, assets and household size. While Lamont’s office and OPM said the threshold would be a family income of approximately $75,000, the exact amount will vary based on the FAFSA formula.
The $4.6 million adjustment for CSCU would also include $2.1 million for the Guided Pathways initiative to improve student academic advising, which officials believe will improve student retention and completion.
“We would have some concerns with how changes to the PACT program at this stage in the process would affect enrollment,” CSCU spokesman Leigh Appleby said. “We look forward to working with the administration and the legislature to ensure tuition and fee-free community college is an option for Connecticut families beginning this fall.”
Under Lamont’s proposal, many of the students who PACT was expected to attract will not be eligible. Unlike the four-year universities, community colleges tend to have more adult learners and students who “waited a little while and then decided to come back,” CSCU Chief Financial Officer Ben Barnes said last week.
“Our employers will be left without a sufficient pipeline of skilled workers to meet their needs unless we tackle the problem of affordability among adult learners as well as recent graduates,” Haddad said.
Enrollment at the community colleges has been declining for years. Officials expected PACT, without the new eligibility restrictions, to attract students who otherwise wouldn’t have attended and encourage students who would have attended only part-time to take more credits.
In documents provided to the Board of Regents
Finance and Infrastructure committee last week, system staff estimated that PACT would increase fulltime community college enrollment by 2,093 students in the 2020-21 school year. That would have brought additional revenue to the system because those students would likely receive federal and state aid, with PACT money covering any remaining gaps. “This initiative is expected to provide a net benefit to the colleges of $2.5 million in FY (fiscal year) 2021,” the system said, with an “eventual net benefit of over $4 million.”
When asked how much CSCU officials were consulted about the proposed limits, Appleby said the system “had conversations with OPM related to our fall enrollment marketing efforts, and we shared with them projected cost estimates based on the legislation passed last year.”
Republican representatives were noticeably silent during Lamont’s State of the State address Wednesday when he touted both two college affordability initiatives: the debt-free community college program and the Connecticut Commitment, which guarantees that students with household incomes below $50,000 will pay no tuition at the University of Connecticut.
House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, said the initial community college proposal passed last session “in a discombobulated way,” without a funding mechanism approved. “They’re full of ideas and not full of funding.”
“The accommodation made in the language that we passed last year permitted (Lamont) to determine whether or not iLottery was both feasible and adequate to fund the program, or to propose additional revenues to meet the program’s needs in its initial years,” Haddad said. “I can’t help but feel like the governor’s office only did half their job.”
In addition to the community college program, lawmakers will likely take up a proposal to expand the U-Pass system to private colleges. Currently, only public colleges are able to participate. Colleges are charged $20 per student per semester for the program, in exchange for unlimited public transportation rides for students.
The budget adjustments also include $225,000 to hire two more positions at the State Department of Education who will work on curriculum development, “to focus on districts that are not meeting their overall achievement goals,” McCaw said.
In an effort to curb vaping, Lamont is proposing that schools be required to include vaping prevention curriculum in their health education courses. That’s in addition to other measures like banning flavored e-cigarette products and increasing penalties for sales to minors.
Liz.teitz@hearstmediact.com