Debt-free Public Higher Education
The problem: reductions in state funding have led to higher tuition and fees, less financial aid, obstacles to access and rising debt for all students, particularly students of color.
Our Commonwealth is strongest when we make sure that each of us has the capacity to reach our full potential. When hardworking young people and adults want to be able to attend college but financial barriers keep them from enrolling and staying in school, we harm those individuals and the future of our economy and society. Over the past two decades, state funding for public higher education has declined by 20 percent per full-time equivalent student, after adjusting for inflation. As a result, tuition, fees, and debt have increased dramatically. Between 2000 and 2020, students at community colleges saw a 52 percent increase their tuition and fees, after adjusting for inflation. At four-year public universities, the increase was 59 percent.
While tuition and fees have increased, the per-student state funding for scholarships has declined by 18 percent. This has forced students to take on more debt. This burden has hurt all students, with the greatest impact felt by students of color.
Since fiscal year 2001, the share of graduates of public four-year colleges with debt has increased from 54 percent to 71 percent. In addition, the average amount of debt has increased by about 50 percent – from $20,700 to $31,900.
National data shows African Americans with a bachelor’s degree now carry an average debt of 113 percent of their income.
The dangers of these long-term structural flaws became clear in the pandemic as overall first-time enrollment in community colleges declined by 23.6 percent in fall 2020, while first-time enrollment of Black students declined by 32.6 percent. As we recover from the health and economic crisis brought on by COVID-19, the urgency and importance of addressing affordability and expanding access to higher education for all students – and particularly students of color – is greater than ever. But even before the pandemic, financial pressures were making it extremely difficult for lower income students to balance long hours of work with school. For years, more than a third of full-time, first-time degree-seeking community college students have left school before their second year.
The Solution: Debt Free Higher Education
Students who are willing to work hard and pay their fair share should be able to attend college without being forced to take on debt. Creating a path for debt-free higher education is not the same as making college free. It is a strategy that looks at the needs of students and provides enough financial aid so that all students can afford college without debt. For many low-income students, the elimination of tuition and fees doesn’t make college affordable because – particularly at community colleges – those costs are often only a third to a quarter of the cost of attendance. To survive while attending college, students also need to pay for housing, food, transportation, childcare if they have young children, and other basic necessities.
Students also have resources. Low-income students have Pell Grants. Middle- and upper-income students can afford a reasonable “Expected Family Contribution,” as calculated on FAFSA forms. Most students can work 10 to 15 hours-a-week without harming their ability to succeed in school. A debt-free plan simply needs to fill the gap between those resources and the full cost of attendance, including living expenses.
Funding from the Fair Share Amendment could help to create a debt-free path for all in-state students at state two- and four-year public colleges and universities.