The upcoming tuition freezes at NH’s public colleges and universities will come as welcome relief to students after a decade of skyrocketing tuition at public and private institutions across the state. It’s little wonder NH college students graduate with the highest debt load in the country as tuition and fees at public and private institutions increased, on average, 72.9 percent between the fall of 2002 and the fall of 2012.
The average annual undergraduate tuition and fees at four-year degree-granting institutions in NH was $23,318 in 2012-2013. Public schools saw some of the largest increases in tuition, a rise that corresponds to decreasing state support of public higher education. Undergraduate tuition and fees at University System of NH (USNH) institutions increased more than 100 percent in the last decade, while the community college system tuition increased 69 percent. Granite State College rings in as the most affordable four-year degree program in the state at $8,835 a year.
For the 2012-2013 school year, state support of the USNH system accounted for 6 percent of its operating budget compared to 2002-2003, when state support accounted for 12 percent of the operating budget, says Todd Leach, USNH chancellor and former president of Granite State College. He says state funding for public higher education has decreased 34.9 percent in the past decade. While Leach says USNH received $54 million in the school year that just ended, the state Legislature voted to restore funding to $69 million in the coming year and $84 million the following year, which prompted USNH to freeze in-state student tuition for the next two years. The Community College System also froze tuition for the coming school year after its funding was restored from $32 million to $37.5 million for the coming school year.
Franklin Pierce University in Rindge had one of the lowest increases among NH colleges and universities at 45.9 percent. With government student loans and grants decreasing, “we tried to be responsive and replace that aid,” says President James Birge. Franklin Pierce did that in part by increasing financial aid and in part by freezing tuition during the 2008-2009 and 2011-2012 school years.
The 10-year tuition increase at Colby Sawyer was just below the state average, but the school has a generous financial aid package. During the 2011-2012 school year, average grants and scholarships accounted for 69 percent of tuition and fees, the fifth highest in the state. “We look at our costs and try to make strategic initiatives,” says Tom Galligan, president of Colby Sawyer College in New London. “Students today are forced to mortgage their future. We all need to find better ways [for students] to not borrow more and more money.”
By far the best deal is Granite State College. While Granite State’s tuition more than doubled during the past decade, its lower sticker price has resulted in a change in student demographics. While traditional-age students made up only 10 percent of enrollment in 2002-2003, younger students now make up 20 to 25 percent, Leach says. Adding to its allure is the fact that Granite State has a partnership with the Community Colleges System that allows students to earn a four-year degree at an affordable price. Based on 2012-2013 tuition and fees, the average four-year cost for a bachelor’s degree at NH’s four-year-institutions is $93,272. For students attending a NH community college for the first two years and then transferring to Granite State College, the cost of a bachelor’s degree is $27,750.
Granite State has grown its student body by 30 percent in the past three years, Leach says. He attributes that growth, in part, to the generous grant and scholarship programs at the college. Most students pay “very little out of pocket,” he says, as the average grant/scholarship in the 2011-2012 school year was $3,689.
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