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Graduate urges lawmakers to keep Higher Education Trust Fund for students, not a UVM building
Summary
A recent graduate told the Appropriations committees that using $15 million from the Higher Education Trust Fund to pay for a UVM facility would undermine the Free Degree Promise; he urged lawmakers to make the promise permanent instead of spending trust funds on capital projects.
Donovan Arnold, who said he earned an associate degree debt-free through the Free Degree Promise, told the joint Appropriations committees he is concerned that the governor’s proposal would use $15 million from the Higher Education Trust Fund to help pay for a new facility at the University of Vermont. Arnold said the fund’s purpose is to help low-income Vermonters access higher education without loans and that the same $15 million could permanently underwrite the Free Degree Promise and expand accelerated pathways.
"For me, this matters because by tenth grade, I had taken most of the math classes offered at my high school," Arnold said, describing how the free-degree pathway led to an associate degree and work experience. He estimated the Free Degree Promise program costs about $750,000 a year and urged lawmakers to prioritize student access over a capital project. The hearing did not include committee discussion or response to the request; decisions will await the formal budget process.
