Testimony before the Connecticut Appropriations Committee on the Higher Education Budget FY’20 — ‘21
REP. WALKER (93RD): Go right ahead, sir. Go ahead. Talk from your heart.
JOHN BOARD: [laughing] Good evening, Representative Walker. Representative Walker and distinguished members of the Appropriations Committee, I’m John Board, a former Board of Regents representative from Western Connecticut State University.
Before I sort of dive into the meat of my testimony, I would like to align my testimony with Mr. Namer from earlier, in the sense that Dr. Kukk was the reason why I attended Western. He was the one that recruited me to the University. Every student he has mentored, he takes time to sit down with them and actually learn about the students, not only in their academics, but also in their life. As well, he’s really truly the most compassionate person, never mind professor, that I’ve ever met.
But getting back to the business at hand, I’m here to speak today about tuition and fees relating to the CSCU budget and present a proposal which could provide more stability for students and for the state. According to multiple news outlets and industry experts, businessmen, as well as the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, it’s predicted that the student loan bubble will burst within the next decade. We may not be able to stop this situation, but I think we should try our best to manage it. For those of you who serve on Higher Education and Employment Advancement, Representative Haddad, Senator Flexer, you guys very well know the proposal that I am putting forward.
The concept which I am proposing is tuition contracting. It’s a proposal that I’ve been advocating for for the last five years. It would freeze the current tuition rate or the soon-to-be tuition rate for the incoming class, let’s just say the class of 2023. Part of this contract would be an agreement to attend a specific university or system for four years. If a student opts to extend the degree program going into that, going into more of a nine semesters, a student’s tuition would jump to whatever the incoming freshman rate would be. So in our example, it would be the class of 2028. There are additional concepts which we could tie to this: learn here, live here, as well as examining the CHESLA loan rates. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the Committee and I’m available to take any questions which members of the Committee may have.
REP. WALKER (93RD): Thank you. Did you submit testimony?
JOHN BOARD: I’m going to afterwards.
REP. WALKER (93RD): Okay.
JOHN BOARD: I’ve been sitting in the corner, you know, all day doing my research on it.
REP. WALKER (93RD): Okay, so do me a favor and please make sure you submit that to us. And if we have any questions, we’ll get back to you.
JOHN BOARD: Definitely. Thanks so much, Representative.
REP. WALKER (93RD): Thank you very much.
Source: CGA Appropriations Website
