UNH: University of No Help

UPDATE: A prior version of this article wrote, concerning the increased demand for financial aid at UNH, "The Financial Aid Office received $25,113 on-time FAFSA for the 2009-2010 academic year. This year, they received $27,938." The figures refer to the number of applications, not a dollar amount. The corrected sentence reads: "The Financial Aid Office received 25,113 on-time FAFSAs for the 2009-2010 academic year. This year, they received 27,938."

State funding for the University System of New Hampshire remained stagnant for the second straight year, prompting a 4.9 percent increase in the cost of attendance for in-state students at UNH for the 2010-2011 academic year, and a 40 percent increase in financial aid grants for New Hampshire residents.

The USNH, which along with UNH includes Plymouth State University, Keene State College and Granite State College, received a $100 million approximation from the state legislature equal to the amount it received in the last two fiscal years. When inflation is factored in, state aid to higher education in New Hampshire has decreased over that time period.

The cost of attending UNH for in-state residents, including tuition, room, board and mandatory fees, increased from $21,617 last year to $23,524 this year. Out-of-state residents saw their costs increase from $35,587 to $37,494.

Tuition rates were approved and released on June 24. This year's 4.9 percent increase is less than the 6.2 percent increase last year. The USNH's board described the increase as "modest."

New Hampshire ranks last in the nation in state support of higher education. According to Grapevine, an annual compilation of data on state tax support for higher education, New Hampshire spends $104.01 per capita on higher education. Wyoming, on the other hand, spends the most on higher education, at $561.22 per capita. According to documents provided by David Proulx, UNH's assistant vice president of Financial Planning and Budgeting, New Hampshire would have to increase its funding 26 percent just to be on par with the state ranked 49 (Massachusetts). The state has a similar last-in-the-nation ranking when calculations are made based on higher education appropriations per $1,000 of personal income.

"New Hampshire is far and away the lowest state using these measures," Proulx said.

Although UNH is trying to increase revenue through other sources, most notably by increasing alumni donations and research and development partnerships as outlined in the UNH Strategic Plan, the cost of attendance increase is the only guaranteed way that the university can increase funds immediately.

And although the out-of-state rate might prompt more sticker shock, the majority of this burden has fallen on New Hampshire residents.

"The cost of attendance for a non-resident student has risen at inflation levels (using the Higher Education Price Index or HEPI) since 1991," Proulx said. "Resident student cost of attendance has increased at a rate significantly higher than inflation since 1991."

The primary reason behind the cost of attendance increase, according to Proulx, is that state support has actually decreased since that time adjusted for inflation using HEPI and only slightly increased adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index.

The USNH had been hoping for an increase in state funding. In its "Budget Request for Fiscal Years 2010-2011," released in 2008, the system called for the state to cover a greater percentage of its expenses.  

"For the FY08-09 biennium, the State of New Hampshire provided 12.9 percent of all revenue needed to operate the state's public higher education system for four year institutions," the report reads. "The University System respectfully requests that the state invest an equivalent of 13.5 Fiscal Year 2010 and an equivalent of 14.1 percent for Fiscal Year 2011."

At UNH, state appropriations accounted for 13.3 percent of operating expenses in the most recently completed fiscal year, and Proulx expects it to account for an even lower percentage this fiscal year.

Students, families feel the effects

According to the Project on Student Debt, an initiative of the Institute for College Access & Success, graduates of New Hampshire colleges and universities in 2008, the most recent year for which data is available, had the fifth-highest average student debt in the nation at $25,785. The proportion of graduates who had some amount of debt, 70 percent, was the sixth highest in the nation.

Broken down by college and campus, UNH had the third highest average per student debt in the state at $27,516, trailing only Colby-Sawyer College and St. Anselm College, both of which are private institutions. 75 percent of UNH's Class of 2008 graduated with student debt.

According to figures published in the New England Journal of Higher Education, the average family needs to spend 36 percent of its before-tax income to send a child to a public four-year institution in the state of New Hampshire, compared to the national average of 28 percent.

These numbers have grown more critical in the past two decades.

"If an in-state student's cost of attendance had grown at the rate of inflation since 1991, that student would be paying about $14,000 today," Proulx said. "Instead an in-state student is paying over $22,000. "

Put another way, UNH President Mark Huddleston noted in his February address introducing the UNH Strategic Plan that the typical New Hampshire family in 1978 spent about 40 percent of their after-tax income for tuition, fees, room and board. Today, he said, that number is closer to 60 percent.

"This is not where we want to be and something the president is focusing on in the UNH Strategic Plan," Proulx said.