Colorado Higher-ed voucher bill goes to Owens – would be first in nation to directly fund college students

The legislature approved and sent to Gov. Bill Owens on Tuesday a plan to overhaul how Colorado pays for higher education.

The proposal would make the state the first in the nation to give some taxpayer money directly to college students instead of to colleges and universities. Students would use vouchers to help pay tuition at public and some private in-state schools.

By Chris Frates
Denver Post Staff Writer

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~61~2112362,00.html

The House voted 40-23 to approve the plan, and the Senate quickly concurred. A spokesman for Owens said the governor will sign the bill, which has been one of his main legislative priorities.

"It’s the first in the nation. I think it’s a giant step for changing the incentive so more kids will go to college," said Owens appointee Rick O’Donnell, executive director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.

The bill would provide students at public schools about $2,400 each in the first year, while low-income private-school students would get about $1,200 each.

Colorado’s public colleges and universities support the measure because it allows them to raise tuition to cover expenses, something they are unable to do under existing constitutional limits. Because the plan sends money directly to students instead of schools, it is exempted from the revenue limits.

"The rationale for keeping our tuition (increase) to the rock-bottom level of 1.1 percent is removed," University of Northern Colorado president Kay Norton said.

Owens on Monday vetoed the 8 percent tuition increase approved by the legislature but has not said how large an increase he will accept.

Sergio Gonzales, an elected student leader at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said the bill doesn’t provide any new funding and simply shifts the burden to students in the form of higher tuition rates.

"Now you’re splitting the pie into thousands of smaller pieces, and somehow that’s supposed to help solve the higher-education crises in Colorado," he said.

Rep. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, said he voted against the bill for similar reasons. "I think tuition rates in this state will just be bonkers," he said.

But Norton said she thinks that’s "short-term thinking."

"No university has the ability to charge more than their market will bear, so you’re not going to find institutions charging huge increases, because students won’t come," she said.

University of Colorado president Betsy Hoffman has said public higher education in Colorado will become endangered if two conflicting constitutional amendments aren’t changed. Hoffman and other presidents have warned that universities will not survive or will be forced to privatize within five years.

The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, known as TABOR, is a constitutional amendment that limits state revenue and prevents schools from raising tuition above a certain level.

In combination with Amendment 23, which requires annual spending increases for K-12 education, it has forced lawmakers to cut about $150 million from higher education in the past three years.

Sen. Norma Anderson, R-Lakewood, the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 189, said the bill doesn’t fix the TABOR/23 problem but "keeps our higher-ed system alive."

But Rep. Tom Plant, D-Nederland, said the bill’s provision to partially fund some students at three private schools hurts public education.

"It’s bad public policy to further dilute our resources for public institutions," he told his colleagues on the House floor.

Some students at the University of Denver, Regis University and Colorado College will get partial funding.

About half of the 16,157 students who attend Regis are in-state residents, said Lydia MacMillan, associate vice president for enrollment services at Regis.

"We are not planning on having a huge influx because of the vouchers," she said. "They would certainly benefit our students – no doubt about it."

Opponents argued that giving state money to some private-college students raises constitutional questions because not every private school is included and private schools don’t need the legislation to raise tuition.

But O’Donnell said public schools weren’t opposed to including private schools in the bill. Adding more than the three included faced political opposition, he said.

Not all students think vouchers will help their peers.

Vershara Lott, 28, a CU-Boulder senior anthropology major, said she is a low-income student and has juggled on-campus jobs while in school.

She is worried that vouchers will discourage diversity at CU.

"You have to ask, ‘Is this going to affect first-generation college students, lower-income students or anybody that struggles to pay for school?"’ Lott said.

Brittany Anas of The Denver Post contributed to this report.