VT - Financial Aid

Item 221 #1h

Language
Page 231, line 53, strike "$16,742,637" and insert "$16,174,437".

Explanation
(This amendment reduces the proposed increase based on a change in assumptions in the financial aid model. The assumptions utilized by the State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV) assumed a nearly 15 percent growth in the cost of attendance at public colleges and universities. The proposed budget proposed increases to financial aid based on those assumptions. However, average costs have increased by less than 10 percent in recent years. In addition, higher education funding has increased by more than $550 million or over 16 percent in this biennium with the expectation that tuition increases would begin to moderate. Therefore, a more valid assumption is for average costs to increase by their historical rates.)