Every Number Tells A Story
Every Number Tells A Story
by Jennifer Widness
The Roberta Willis Scholarship Program (RWSP) is the state’s need-based financial aid program administered by the Office of Higher Education that provides scholarships to needy Connecticut students attending Connecticut higher education institutions, both public and private, non-profits.
The General Fund Appropriation for RWSP has not seen an increase in over ten years.
The legislature allocated nearly $80 million in ARPA funds to this program that was distributed by the Office of Higher Education to eligible institutions to issue need-based scholarships between FY ‘22 to FY ‘25. In FY ‘24, over $40 million was spent on scholarships, 60% more than the annual general fund appropriation of $24.8 million.
The Governor’s budget proposes flat funding RWSP at the same general fund appropriation of $24.8 million in both FY ‘26 and FY ’27. As the ARPA allocations will expire in FY ‘25, flat funding this program will effectuate a significant CUT to need-based scholarships for Connecticut students.
Now is the time for the legislature to invest in this program:
· Even with the ARPA allocations, Connecticut still ranked 44th in the country in FY 23 for the percent of state funding for higher education allocated to student aid at just 3%.
· The state spends only $400 in student aid per student enrolled, while the national average is $1,180 per student.
· Investing in need-based financial aid works to close equity gaps. Between 22-23, Connecticut saw a 4% increase in post-secondary enrollment among low-income students, the same time that the ARPA funds were utilized to increase need-based aid by $10 million that year. This is the largest single year increase in this demographic group in seven years.
· Our state needs a highly skilled workforce to support the long-term economic growth of key industries such as Healthcare, Finance, and Life Sciences as well as to foster innovation given rapid growth in emerging technologies like AI. RWSP recipients at CCIC institutions are pursuing degrees in high demand areas.
Both our public and private colleges need to be leveraged to close equity gaps and expand the state’s talent pipeline. Funding robust student financial aid will help support those goals. We hope the Committee will increase funding to the Roberta Willis Scholarship Program for the biennium.
Jennifer Widness is Executive Director of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges. This testimony was filed with the legislature’s Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding for an upcoming public hearing on House Bill 6864, the State Budget Recomnedations proposed by Gov. Lamont. The Appropriations Committee is composed of 54 members – 14 Senators and 40 Representatives. The Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC) represents fifteen accredited nonprofit independent colleges and universities in Connecticut.
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