Vermont higher education faces the problem of chronic underfunding of its public postsecondary institutions that results in inadequate resources for instruction and academic support while creating an overreliance on tuition dollars. This problem has grown since a decision in the 1980s to pursue a "high tuition / high aid" approach for state funding, coupled with subsequent overall state disinvestment. AFT Vermont recognizes that these issues are at the core of the state's challenge in sustaining a high quality system of public higher education and this report proposes ways to turn back the clock to a time when the state did adequately support public higher education.
We believe that public higher education is a public good and that Vermont's students should pay the smallest possible share of its costs.
We support the goals of:
1. lowering student and family costs and debt so that UVM and VSC are more affordable for Vermonters, and
2. returning to the 1980 level of State funding for the student tuition support ratio for UVM and VSC.
You can read a copy of the report here.