ANNAPOLIS—Maryland legislators may require state university system employees to start paying half the cost of tuition for themselves and their children to help solve state budget woes.
Right now, the roughly 21,000 University System of Maryland employees — from top brass to groundskeepers — and their dependents are entitled to free tuition. The proposal to cut those benefits in half is part of a plan from House GOP Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell to close an estimated $2 billion budget deficit. O’Donnell’s office says changing the tuition benefit would save the state $6.85 million a year.
“We have deficits as far as the eye can see,” said O’Donnell, who represents Calvert and St. Mary’s counties. “We can’t afford a lot of this stuff. It’s just something we can’t afford to pay for anymore.”
Sue Esty, assistant director of the Maryland chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the tuition remission program is a popular benefit that helps recruit and retain university staff. The federation represents 6,100 higher education employees in Maryland, Esty said, including clerical, security and maintenance workers.
“For many of them, their children will be the first generation to attend college,” Esty said. “They have so much hope and expectation built into this benefit. Some of them take advantage of the program to better themselves and their careers, too.”
The university system’s chief lobbyist, P.J. Hogan, said reducing the perk would put schools at a disadvantage with other area colleges that offer free tuition to staff. Many schools around the country offer free tuition to staffers and their dependents.
“It does not make us unique by having the benefit,” Hogan said. “By cutting it in half or eliminating it, that actually would make us unique and it would put us at a competitive disadvantage for recruiting and retaining staff, faculty and researchers.”
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7 comments:
Fact is it dosent cost the state anything so it cant SAVE anything. What they'r referring to is money they "could" make by charging staff half the cost of tuition. I want them to cut cost more than anyone but this isnt cutting cost. Looks like O'Donnell is a closet tax and spend?
They might as well pay as me. Most of them can probably afford it more than I can.
Any elected official that speaks of budgets this way needs to be removed from office.
Like the first poster said, you can't SAVE anything if you're not SPENDING anything to begin with!
Isn't that what they refer to as backwards accounting? lol
If it is lost "revenues" he's speaking of, then enroll more students! There can't be THAT many in this program for staff and their dependents where it would interfere with the number of students they can have enrolled at one time!
This is ridiculous!
If anything, they might consider the new hires to adhere to the "pay 50%" rule. Those people who have worked there already consider it a benefit and have every right to consider it a promise made to them when they became employed. They don't earn tht much, contrary to a prior comment, and knowing that their children can attend IS a benefit of their employment. What's right is right.
I've taught several kids who attend UMES for free because their either their fathers work with the campus maintenance crew or their mothers are clerks/administrative assistants. I doubt many of them find college any more affordable you 9:21.
Atleast only charge these students the true amount of what it costs to administer their enrollment or as was said, charge only new employees.
The fact is that each class has a limited enrollment. If a child of an employee takes up a slot in a class that could otherwise be filled with a paying student, then yes the university loses money.
It also remains that when tuition increases (albeit there has been a freeze for a couple of years), I have to pay each and every increase. Why shouldn't they? And for the record, many of the university employees are contractual which do not receive these benefits. Most of the tenured employees and those of rank are the ones who receive this benefit - many of which make more than most and have the means to pay.
When the state provides money specifically to build something, you have two options: build it, or forfeit the money. Period. That's how capital funds work. Thus, "quit building things" is not a serious suggestion. Thanks anyway though.
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