In response to soaring tuition at public universities and community colleges, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is calling on the state legislature to fund a "last dollar" scholarship program that would serve as a safety net for students unable to make ends meet.
Chamber President and CEO Dave Adkisson has proposed a Guaranteed Affordability Program, or GAP, to bridge the costs of college and the limits of a family's finances. Under the "shared responsibility model" now in use in Oregon and Minnesota, Adkisson explained, "You exhaust all other resources and then the state pledges the last dollar to make it affordable."
According to a fact sheet provided by the chamber, the GAP approach would include:
• A student contribution equal to earnings from a 40-hour work week during the summer and 10-15 hours per week during the school year at a minimum wage job.
• A family contribution as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
• Postsecondary institution contribution from scholarships or endowment funds.
• State government contribution that makes up the difference between the sum of these contributions and the cost of attending a public university or community/technical college.
Under the plan, the Council on Postsecondary Education would determine the cost of attendance at a public institution and would monitor the program.
Jo Carole Ellis, vice president for government relations and student services, Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, said her agency likes the chamber concept in principle, but "we think the devil's in the details." Ellis called for a thorough vetting to ensure that the GAP program would not be redundant with programs already in place. "When a student fills out a FAFSA, they have to include their student income. So their earnings are already being counted in what their aid eligibility is for federal and state purposes. So now we're going to count it again in this GAP model. It's almost like a double hit. If it's a program that helps students, absolutely, but we just want to make sure we're really helping to make college more affordable through this type of program."
Tuition at Kentucky's public institutions has increased by an average of 10 percent each year of the last decade, almost four times the growth of the state's median family income. Commensurate with that inflation, Adkisson noted, "state funding has declined relative to the student-family portion, so this is an attempt to use state resources to try to address that unsustainable trend."
Adkisson said education is the chamber's top priority and the business community is looking to the state to better manage its resources so that education does not continue to suffer. "If you look at the initial budget proposal in 2008, the increases for Medicaid funding, over $150 million, was almost identical to the $150 million being cut from higher education." Wellness is another top priority of the 7,000 member business organization.