POLITICS

The cost of education
State should contribute more to higher learning

There was a time not that long ago when a high school graduate of modest means could pay his or her own way through college by working summers and a part-time job during the school year. It wasn't easy, but it could be done.

Today, with the cost of higher education skyrocketing and New Hampshire Legislature's contribution to its land-grant university system failing to keep up, that option simply doesn't exist.

Tuition and fees for the 2007-08 school year, according to the University of New Hampshire admissions office Web site, total just more than $11,000 for in-state students. That's an increase of 6.9 percent over the 2006-07 school year.

Add to that typical room and board costs of almost $8,200, and additional factors such as the cost of books, supplies and transportation, and the total cost for attending UNH for one year comes out to approximately $23,000. That means that the cost of a four-year education at this land-grant university for a resident of the state is in the neighborhood of $92,000. That's a pretty expensive neighborhood.

The cost for out-of-state students is appreciably more, coming in at around $34,700 per year, or almost $139,000 for four years. That's an increase of 5.2 percent over last year.

On the New Hampshire Seacoast, earning between $23,000 and $35,000 a year requires full-time employment, which virtually precludes going to college and doing well academically.

While there is financial aid available, it is usually "" and justifiably "" geared to lower-income students leaving precious little for those from middle-class families. In addition, the financial pages have recently been full of stories about students being ripped off by companies that specialize in college loans.

The result, according to J.T. O'Donnell, a North Hampton career development specialist, is that the average student ends his or her college career with that coveted sheepskin and a minimum of $17,000 of debt. That forces four out of five graduates to go back home and live with their parents until that debt is paid off.

It is, therefore, no wonder that New Hampshire's best and brightest are leaving the state in droves to earn enough money at entry-level jobs to get out of debt and out of their parents' home. Fully 50 percent of UNH graduates get work out of state.

The impact, as has been repeatedly stated by the state's business community, is that good workers are becoming increasingly harder to find, and without those workers, companies are not locating to the state and those firms currently operating in New Hampshire can't expand the way they would like.

While it may not be the entire answer to this problem, it is clear that a lower university system tuition schedule would mean less debt for graduates, and less debt could mean the difference between taking an in-state job and being forced to leave.

The total university system operating budget for "education and general purposes" for the upcoming fiscal year is $384 million. Of that amount, the state contributes just $96 million, or about 25 percent.

The reasons given by many companies that have located to New Hampshire are the lack of an income or sales tax, of course, and a highly trained work force. With 50 percent of UNH graduates finding work outside the state, that highly trained, college-educated work force is rapidly disappearing, threatening New Hampshire's financial future.

UNH Chancellor Stephen Reno estimates that if 10 percent more of new graduates who planned to leave were to stay and work in New Hampshire, the state would add 629 employees to the work force, and these employees could make a $42 million impact on the state's economy.

If such an effort were sustained for five years, the cumulative impact would be 3,144 more employees and an economic benefit of $636 million.

Such a shift could help make New Hampshire a younger state, could stimulate entrepreneurial ideas and new businesses, and have a potential ripple effect on high schools graduates, of which half currently leave New Hampshire to attend college.

Increasing the amount the state contributes to higher education is an investment in the financial future of the state, and if Reno's projections are correct, even a doubling of the state's contribution would be paid back through the business enterprise and business profits taxes within a very short period of time.

Shir Haberman is the business and political writer at the Portsmouth Herald. He can be reached at shaberman@seacoastonline.com