Free tuition for essential workers unlikely in New Hampshire

Though at least one state is considering it, essential workers and other New Hampshire residents should not expect free college tuition any time soon, despite the fact that New Hampshire has the second-highest in-state tuition in the country and is the only state that does not offer state grants directly to students for higher education.

“Free college as a state is just not in the cards right now,” said Susan Huard, interim chancellor at the Community College System of New Hampshire, which covers the seven community colleges in the state. “I honestly don’t think we’re going to have this particular conversation in New Hampshire in the near term, for a number of reasons.”

Chief among them is New Hampshire’s struggle to properly fund K-12 education, said Huard, who sits on the Commission to Study School Funding, which was assembled this year to find ways to make educational funding for grades K-12 more equitable in the state. 

“Very clearly, we have challenges there,” which would need to be addressed before conversations began about drastically increasing funding for higher education, she said. 

Although an overhaul to tuition is unlikely in the state, there are some measures in place to make college tuition more affordable to New Hampshire residents. Community Colleges in the state have raised tuition by just $5 per credit during the past eight years, even as costs — particularly for technology — have increased much more than that, Huard said. There are also full and partial tuition waivers available at community college for specific populations, including some foster children, National Guard members and senior citizens. 

The University System of New Hampshire, which includes UNH, Plymouth State University, Keene State College and Granite State College, offers the Granite Guarantee program. That waives tuition for people who qualify for federal Pell grants. The grants are based on income and begin phasing out for families making $60,000 or more. The grants are capped at $6,345 for the 2020-2021 academic year. After the Pell grant and any other financial aid is applied, the Granite Guarantee covers tuition only, not fees for room, board and books. In addition to this program, USNH also offers tuition waivers for members of the National Guard. 

Still, big gaps remain in affordable access to higher education in the state. New Hampshire had the second highest in-state tuition and fees in the country for the 2019-2020 school year, behind only Vermont. Tuition and fees at public four-year universities in the state cost $16,920, according to The College Board. New Hampshire is the only state without a state grant program for college students, said Sandy Baum, senior fellow in the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute, and former professor of economics at Skidmore College.

“New Hampshire has unusually high tuition, unusually low state funding, and no state grant programs, so New Hampshire really stands out,” Baum said.

The economic impact of higher education

Higher education benefits individuals and the economy. Controlling for socio-economic factors that impact earnings, a man with a bachelor’s degree will earn, on average, $655,000 more than he would with just a high school diploma, according to data from the Social Security Administration. A woman with a bachelor’s degree earns, on average, $450,000 more than she would with a high school diploma. People who have college degrees pay more taxes and are significantly less likely to depend on public safety net programs, according to a 2018 report from the Urban Institute. Higher rates of college education are also linked to less crime. 

Investing in higher education makes good economic sense, according to the Urban Institute report. In 2015, states paid an average of $7,130 per full-time student at public four-year colleges and $5,480 per student at public two-year colleges, the report said. Over the lifetime, states and local municipalities will spend $34,773 less on individuals with a college education than they will on people who have only a high school degree, according to the report, since those with higher education are less likely to rely on public assistance like Medicaid, SNAP and unemployment. 

“There’s a very high payback,” Baum says. 

In New Hampshire — which had a workforce shortage before the pandemic — retaining talent is a key economic priority, said Todd Leach, chancellor of USNH. Students who attend college in New Hampshire are more likely to work in the state, he said. 

“It’s really important that we keep New Hampshire students here in New Hampshire, because we want them here to be part of the workforce afterwards,” Leach said. “That was one of the reasons the Granite Guarantee was put in place, to try to keep students in New Hampshire.”

Currently, about 60% of college-going students in New Hampshire leave the state, Leach said. USNH has a goal of reducing that to 50%, although there is no specific timeline associated with that goal, he said. The Granite Guarantee program and a tuition freeze for the 2020-2021 academic year encourage more students to choose New Hampshire schools, he said, although he did not have specific numbers for how the program has impacted enrollment. 

The push for, and problems with, tuition waivers

With the economic benefits of higher education in mind, it’s no surprise that there has been some push nationally to make college tuition free, especially at the community college level. Most recently, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Futures for Frontliners, a program that will provide free higher education to front line workers in the state.

Gov. Sununu’s office did not return requests for comment about a similar program in New Hampshire, although the professional interviewed for this article said one is not under consideration.

Although the details of the program have not been hashed out, Witmer likened it to the G.I. Bill, which helps veterans and their families pay for higher education. The G.I. Bill is a particularly effective program, Baum said, because it not only covers tuition, but also provides money to cover books, fees and living expenses while a student is in school. 

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“People need more than just tuition,” Baum said. In fact, the largest cost of attending college is time out of the workforce, not tuition expense, she noted. 

While the G.I. Bill is effective, it wouldn’t be feasible to implement on a large scale, Baum said. 

“It’s not that simple. You can’t just cover all the living expenses for anyone who signs up for college.”

Slightly more feasible is a so-called “first dollar program,” which covers or waives tuition entirely. Under these programs, students can keep other scholarship money like Pell Grants to cover fees and living expenses. First dollar programs are rare because they are expensive, Baum said, but there are a few that exist at the local level. The Kalamazoo Promise, funded by private donors, is one such program. It covers tuition to any Michigan state colleges and universities for public school graduates from Kalamazoo, Michigan.

A more common approach for states is so-called “last dollar” programs, like the Granite Guarantee. These programs cover what’s left of tuition after all other scholarships and funds are applied. They can be problematic since the most in-need students — who get the largest Pell grants — get the least funds from the state program. 

“Many last dollar programs are giving money to more affluent students,” Baum said. 

The Granite Guarantee avoids that by only giving funds to students who are eligible for Pell grants, but that leaves a steep drop-off of support, especially for middle-income families. 

“When you think of tuition at UNH and think of a family making $60,000, that’s not eligible for a Pell grant, they’re going to have trouble,” Baum said. 

Essential workers want free tuition

While tuition waivers may not be a perfect solution, they would likely make a difference for New Hampshire scholars. CCSNH has done internal analysis about raising tuition, which shows that even small increases in tuition mean fewer students enroll.

“We see very clearly, each time tuition was raised, there were people who could not come. It was a tipping point,” Huard said.

The Granite Guarantee program is helpful for USNH students,  Baum said, but it does not address the fact that New Hampshire does not have a state aid program funded by the legislature that is available to resident students at institutions across the state. A program like that “would be real progress for New Hampshire.” 

Robert Fishwick is a respiratory therapist and manager of the Department of Respiratory Care at Elliot Health Systems in Manchester. Until the pandemic hit, he was also a student at Granite State College, part of USNH, before he put studies on hold to focus on fighting coronavirus. 

“We are in the middle of this crisis and I can assure you outside the walls of this medical center, you have no idea what we work through inside each day,” Fishwick said. 

He would like to see the state consider free tuition for essential workers, and says it would alleviate financial stress in his life. 

“I am not looking for extra checks in the mail that I have no place to spend,” he said. “Free tuition is a tangible asset; one I can wrap my thoughts around and feel joyful that someone at the senior state leadership level thought well enough of our contributions to the public good to show their appreciation.”

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These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.