Following Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s proposed four percent budget cut to the University System of New Hampshire (USNH), The Equinox is concerned how that will impact students.
The Band-Aid fix from KSC in response to the budget cuts is to raise tuition. However, students should not have to pay for the state government’s financial mismanagement as we watch millions of dollars pour into programs like the expansion of Education Freedom Accounts, which looks to subsidize private schooling.
As inflation remains an issue, tuition will likely have to increase. KSC’s tuition has been consistent for the last five years despite inflation but now it appears those years of stagnant costs have come to an end.
Students who finance their tuition on their own will be largely impacted by this. Those students may be forced to work several more hours to afford a tuition increase. While it is fortunate the proposed increase would only be 2.5%, that is still about an extra $300 for in-state students or $600 for out-of-state students.
We believe there will eventually come a time when institutions of public education such as KSC will need to take a stand against the constant cuts. The college will reach a point where there is no more money to demand from students looking to make something of themselves.
The state legislature continues to prove a lack of understanding of the importance of public education. It could be possible to fund education if the state was willing to turn to a greater number of income sources. N.H. is notorious for its reliance on property tax, but we cannot reasonably expect that alone to fund education. Dividends and capital gains have been useful resources in the past and easily could be again if the legislature was willing. Unfortunately, that does not seem a likely move in the near future. The die-hard fiscal conservatism the legislature is clinging to cannot be sustained and austerity politics may well be a death sentence for our future if those in power do not recognize how significant the impact will be if they choke out public education for good.
It is worrying to shift focus so heavily to private donor funding. One of the advantages of attending a public institution is the greater level of transparency and accountability to which these schools are held. When an institution is reliant on private funding, that transparency can be at serious risk, and questions about the priorities of those in power can arise. Part of public education’s value is ensuring all members of the community are able to feel safe and knowledgeable about what is happening from day to day on their campuses.
The U.S. is among the most costly countries worldwide for higher education. Other nations subsidize and incentivize citizens to attend higher education institutions, while those of us in the U.S. typically have to take on crippling amounts of student loans in order to attend in the first place. For students paying with loans, the high interest combined with increased tuition makes for an additionally unreasonable cost.
Higher education is integral to our society as it is where we find our future lawyers, artists, teachers, doctors and writers, to only name a few. There is a public good that comes with a highly educated populace that contributes to the public.
We are disappointed in the state government for putting KSC in a position where it will have to raise tuition. The Equinox is unsure there will be a solution that is not detrimental to either the education of Keene State students or their wallets. If there is not a more long-term solution, eventually KSC’s pockets will be empty.
