Voucher experiment expands to colleges
Colorado will become first state to give money to students instead of schools
Colorado lawmakers have approved a first-of-its-kind college voucher plan that has more to do with helping the state's universities deal with money problems than helping students pay for their education.
Nonetheless, voucher systems, familiar and controversial for securing funding at the K-12 level, have never been tried at the college and university level anywhere in the country. Colorado's program, which starts in fall 2005, will be worth $2,400 at public schools and $1,200 at three private schools in the state.
The bill has been both criticized for drawing desperately needed funds away from public universities and lauded as an important incentive for families in a state that ranks among the lowest nationwide for sending high school seniors to college. With the national recession leaving higher education systems hard hit in many states, Colorado's latest attempt to bridge revenue shortfalls is being closely watched.
Many states have "very similar budget problems with higher education and many are slashing [the] higher ed budget because it is discretionary," said Christine Walton, education policy associate for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "States are looking for other ways to fund higher education, and they are going to look at every option."
Colorado already pays about one-third the cost of college for state residents, a bill that will total $592.4 million for 2004-05. The funds go directly to schools based on enrollment.
But under the voucher program - dubbed the College Opportunity Scholarship - the state will divvy up funds among high school students instead of schools, handing recent grads a check that can be put toward tuition at any junior college, state college, or four-year university in the state. Students may also use half of the voucher at one of three private schools: the University of Denver, Regis University, or Colorado College.
Some say this kind of accounting shift makes the voucher program misleading. "I'm concerned some of the students believe it is a $2,400 reduction in their bill," said Pam Shockley-Zalabak, chancellor of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, who supports the voucher. "In fact, the tuition they pay will be the same. It doesn't make college less expensive; it is just a different funding mechanism."
Others, however, hope the perception of new money will make a dent in one of the state's more shameful statistics: In 2002, only 17 percent of low-income high school grads transitioned to college.
The voucher program will create a "psychological dynamic," said Rick O'Donnell, executive director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, by putting money for college directly into the hands of those who need it.
"I think, long-term, we are going to see a big increase in low-income kids going to college," Mr. O'Donnell said. "Students and their families are going to benefit."
Information about the voucher will be mailed to eighth graders and high school juniors. High school counselors are already thinking about how to include the program in their go-to-college pitch.
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