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How Vermont’s Higher Education Endowment Trust Fund is structured and how distributions work
Summary
Legislative counsel and the treasurer’s office told the House Appropriations Committee that the Vermont Higher Education Endowment Trust Fund is funded by initial appropriations, estate-tax windfalls and small unclaimed-property transfers; statute requires a mandatory annual 5% allocation for non-loan aid and allows up to 2% for endowments with a 2:1 private match.
John Gray, legislative counsel, walked the House Appropriations Committee through the statute that creates the Vermont Higher Education Endowment Trust Fund and its operating rules.
Gray said the fund ‘‘is established in the office of the state treasurer’’ and is composed of initial appropriations, additional appropriations, contributions and — in fiscal years when certain revenue and reserve conditions are met — estate-tax receipts that exceed 125% of the e‑board’s July forecast. He described the statutory definition of ‘‘assets’’ as a rolling average of market values used to compute distributions.
At the heart of the statute, Gray said, is a mandatory allocation: ‘‘the state treasurer shall withdraw and divide an amount equal to 5% of the assets equally among the…
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