Hartford Courant Op-Ed: Shrinking State Support Raises Burden On Students

This is an op-ed that was originally printed in the Hartford Courant on February 22, 2012.

For many Connecticut parents and students, the biggest news this winter was that the University of Connecticut's board of trustees approved a four-year plan to hire 290 faculty by 2015 and raise tuition between 6 percent and 7 percent in each of those years.

Although most students, me included, are normally opposed to tuition increases, a large number recognize the necessity of this plan because of the dire need for more faculty at UConn. Many students find it difficult or impossible to get all of the courses they need to graduate on time, incurring the huge financial cost of staying for extra semesters. Students, however, do not have the resources to bear the entire cost. UConn could hire these faculty members, and invest in a number of vital improvements to the institution, while avoiding tuition increases, if the state simply renewed its support for higher education.

Over the past decade or so, the state has chipped away at its commitment to UConn. When I was born in 1991, the state provided 50 percent of UConn's operating budget, with the other 50 percent coming from student fees and private donations. Now in 2012, the state provides only 27.6 percent of UConn's budget. 2010 was the first year in history that UConn received more money from students than from the state, and the gap has only widened since then.

These sharp reductions are often attributed to the recent recession, which caused the state's budget to shrink, leading to cuts in all areas of spending including higher education. But according to the Connecticut General Assembly's Office of Legislative Research, these cuts are not just symptoms of a shrinking state budget. In 1985, 2.34 percent of the state's budget went toward funding for UConn. In 2012, this dropped to only 1.11 percent. It is clear that the state is not simply tightening its belt; it is shifting its priorities away from higher education and toward other programs and projects.

These disproportionate budget cuts come at the worst possible time for Connecticut students. A college degree is becoming increasingly vital to finding a decent job, but state cuts to higher education are driving up the cost of this near necessity beyond what many students can afford. Prospective students are either prevented from attending college, or attend college knowing that they will be saddled with massive debt — $27,800 on average — upon graduation.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's strategy for the state budget has focused on "shared sacrifice," and rightly so. The idea behind shared sacrifice is that we spread the burden among us all. But the reality is that students, and often their parents, are bearing a disproportionate burden of the cost of education. Even worse, the state government has shown no interest in reversing the continual decrease in funding for higher education.

UConn is our state's flagship institution of higher education, and it is rising quickly in national rankings. To maintain this momentum while keeping a UConn education affordable, the state must stop this trend of constant cuts and instead renew its support for higher education.

Although we cannot expect the state to immediately return to its level of support from 1991, a more reasonable and certainly achievable goal would be for the state to commit to funding half the cost of the faculty hiring plan. If the discussion is around shared sacrifice, the state must help pay its fair share of the costs — instead of placing the entire burden on parents and students.

Strong support for UConn should be a permanent fixture in the state budget. This would allow UConn to continue to grow as a national leader, while remaining an affordable option for all talented Connecticut students. An increase in state funding for UConn is not just an investment in our youth — it is an investment in the state's economy.

Studies have shown that every state dollar allocated to UConn leads to a $5 increase in the state's gross domestic product. Keeping higher education funding up isn't only right in principle; it makes sense economically. Investing in higher education is not just good for Connecticut's students, but for everyone who calls this state home.

Sam Tracy, 20, of South Windsor is president of the University of Connecticut undergraduate student government and a junior majoring in political science and sociology.