Haskell insists Connecticut needs to further invest in colleges

By Scott Benjamin

Is college still the great American dream?

State Sen. Will Haskell (D-26) says it is in Connecticut.

The Westport legislator insists that despite a pandemic, growing budget deficits and declining campus enrollments “in 2021 it will never be more important” to invest in Connecticut’s public colleges and universities.

CT Mirror has reported that the state contribution to in-state tuition at UConn was about 50 percent per student in the early 1990s and is now less than 25 percent.

In October New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman stated that America will see some “universities disappear” as a result of changes stemming from the pandemic.

“I would hope not,” Haskell remarked when asked about potential closings of either public or private colleges in Connecticut.

Fred Hochberg, who was the chairman of the federal Export-Import Bank under former President Barack Obama wrote in his 2020 book, “Trade Is Not a Four Letter Word,” (299 pages, Avid Reader Press) that former Trump Administration National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn has said that somewhere between two-third and three-quarters of all job listings in the United States don’t require an advanced degree.

“The problem we have is we’re sending too many kids to college,” Cohn said.

Said Haskell, “That may be the case nationally, but that is not the case in Connecticut.”

“We have to be serious about economic growth for young people in this state,” he exclaimed in a phone interview.

“We need to prepare them with 21st century work skills,” added Haskell, who is the co-chairman of the General Assembly’s Higher Education & Employment Advancement Committee.

There are financial hurdles.

The Associated Press reported on September 30 that the University of Connecticut could face as much as a $109 million budget gap during the current fiscal year.

CT Examiner stated on October 13 that the Board of Regents system, which includes Charter Oak State College, the four-year state universities and the two-year community colleges has a projected $69 million deficit.

Said Haskell, “Connecticut’s colleges and universities have received significant sums already through state and federal sources, including $20 million in CARES Act funding provided to the University of Connecticut [the week of December 6] by the state. While many challenging budgetary decisions lie ahead, I’m hopeful that we will continue to recognize the importance of investing in higher education in the General Assembly.”

The New York Times has reported that a proposal offered by Obama in 2013 would have rated colleges on tuition, graduation rates, debt and earnings of their graduates and by 2018 tie those rating to federal financial aid.

The plan was not approved by Congress.

Haskell, who served as an intern to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Hartford) and to U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-4) of Greenwich said it would be of benefit for the federal government to have “a more transparent system” in awarding federal assistance to colleges.

Haskell, who was initially elected in 2018, just months after graduating from Georgetown University, praised the state Board of Regents for voting recently to fund Pledge to Advance Connecticut (PACT), the debt-free community college program, through Spring 2021.

A news release described PACT as “last-dollar funding, meaning it covers the gap between the federal and state grants students receive” – named after former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) and former state Rep. Roberta Willis (D-Salisbury) – “and the cost of attending community college (tuition and mandatory fees. “

“Not enough people know about it,” Haskell exclaimed.

A news release stated that, “In order to receive PACT funding, [students] go through the normal process of applying, registering for classes (12+ credits), and filling out the FAFSA [Free Application for Federal Student Aid]. Entry into the program will continue to be accepted on a first-come first-serve basis.”

Haskell said he will seek to ensure that the program receives long-term funding.

However, the Office of Fiscal Analysis, the General Assembly’s budget arm, recently projected a $4.3 billion budget deficit over the next two fiscal years.

In the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression will more money be available for PACT?

Haskell remarked, “There are creative ways to fund it. We can get more federal aid.”

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that due to the increase in work-at-home options a number of New Yorkers were moving to suburban Connecticut, and earlier this month it reported that the long-dormant Greenwich real estate market was, according to one local agent, the best it had been in 20 years.

“Over the recent months I have met many people who have moved from Brooklyn or Manhattan to Fairfield County,” said Haskell regarding some of the interaction that he had with voters as he successfully sought a second term this fall in the district, which travels from Bethel to New Canaan.

However, even if Connecticut experiences a long-term increase in population, will the millennials, many of whom have recently graduated from college with overwhelming student loan debt be inclined to put their children through the same experience?

Haskell acknowledged that the millennial generation, born from the early 1980s to the late 1990s, has had to endure two major economic downturns – the Great Recession of 2008 and the current pandemic.

Douglas Belkin, wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal that, “Millennials are the most educated generation in the nation’s history, but they are broke compared with their predecessors. So why would they direct their children to take the same path?”

“They probably won’t, says John Thelin, a historian of higher education and professor at the University of Kentucky.”

College student debt has soared to the point that former Trumbull Republican First Selectman Tim Herbst told Patch.com in 2017 that it will cause a Great Recession.

The Wall Street Journal reported on November 21 that, "The U.S. government stands to lose $400 billion from the federal student loan program which is" approaching the size of loses incurred by banks during the subprime mortgage crisis.

Wall Street Journal columnist Joseph Sternberg wrote in his 2019 book, “The Theft of a Decade” (PublicAffairs, 278 pages) that, “The fundamental problem all along has been that there is no market mechanism to warn colleges, lenders, parents or students themselves that an individual student might be making a bad financial decision to go to college. For any other type of loan a person takes out – from a credit card to a payday loan to a mortgage – the lender assesses the potential borrower’s creditworthiness and the riskiness of the loan (Does this person have a good credit rating? Is the loan backed by collateral?) and then proposes an interest rate that compensates the risk.”

“That interest rate in turn sends a strong signal to the borrower forcing her to think about whether she’ll be able to repay,” added Sternberg. “This market mechanism is missing in student loans, which are offered at one ultralow subsidized interest rate to all borrowers regardless of the course of study, quality of the school or the likelihood that the student will ever be able to repay.”

Haskell said he is “encouraged” by the recent discussion between Democratic President-elect Joe Biden and congressional Democrats regarding federal funding to help relieve some of the college student loan debt burden.

On a separate subject, the senator said that online learning at the state colleges and universities, particularly through Charter Oak State College – which has been offering external degree programs since the early 1970s - has grown during the pandemic and will continue to increase after activities return to normal.

“We should continue that progress,” Haskell said.

On another topic, prospective public school teachers in Connecticut have to complete classroom observations in an Introduction To Education class early in their curriculum and then shortly before they graduate finish 15 credit hours of student teaching to earn a teaching certificate.

Considering that, why not mandate Cooperative Education at the public four-year colleges in Connecticut?

One national study indicated that overall just 65 percent of the students that reach the first semester of their junior year eventually graduate. But among those that do Cooperative Education, the graduation rate is 91 percent.

With an opt-out provision for students who have valid reasons for not being able to participate, why not require students at the University of Connecticut and the four-year schools in the Board of Regents system to take at least two academic credits of Cooperative Education to graduate?

“I would have to do more research,” Haskell said in response.

On another subject, writing in Consumer Affairs, Mark Huffman stated that nationally only one is six high school graduates take a course in personal finance.

The National Center For Education Statistics reports that in 2015-16 there were 372,000 college students majoring in business – almost twice as many as the next two most popular subject areas combined – Health Professions with 229.000 and Social Sciences/History with 161,000.

Shouldn’t Connecticut have more high school graduates who have taken a course in personal finance, and shouldn’t the high schools have more Business teachers if that is the most popular major for college students?

Declared Haskell, “I think that’s a great idea. It would make students even better prepared for college and more prepared for employers.”

Also, in 2010, Obama and Arne Duncan, his Education Secretary, called for expanding the current academic year of roughly 180 days to 197 days for students in kindergarten through high school, reporting that students in most developed countries attend school more days per year.

Haskell, who was endorsed by Obama during the 2018 campaign, said that he is “Intrigued” by the proposal. He noted that many schools in Connecticut already have lists of books that students read during the summer vacation.

Regarding a different topic, he applauded the recent unanimous decision by the state Board of Education to require that each high school have a curriculum in African-American, Black, Latino and Puerto Rican studies. He also praised the key legislators that wrote the bill.

Haskell remarked, “I am ashamed that I didn’t have the chance to take that class when I was in high school.”