EAFBF886FDDC62C38725843F006EE8C3 Hearing Summary

Ben Boggs and Marilyn Villalobos, National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) introduced themselves to the committee and distributed their presentation (Attachment C), along with nine issue briefs on various higher education topics (Attachments D through L). Mr. Boggs and Ms. Villalobos talked about where Colorado stands among states in terms of enrollment, and discussed rates of attainment in Colorado as compared to the rest of the country. Ms. Villalobos reviewed data pertaining to state support for higher education per capita and answered questions from the committee.

Mr. Boggs spoke about two models of attainment that states are using, which are free college programs (called Promise Programs) and outcomes or performance based funding. 44 states currently have some sort of Promise Program. Mr. Boggs talked about two state promise programs. Indiana's 21st Century Scholars program, which as been in operation for 30 years, costs an average of $60 million per year and awards four years of tuition costs to eligible students attending participating schools. Oregon's Promise Program offers two-year grants for every student attending a two-year community college. The cost of Oregon's program is $20-25 million per year. Mr. Boggs also discussed the two Colorado based promise programs: the Aims Community College Promise Program, funded by the Aims Foundation, and the Denver Scholarship Foundation Scholars Program.

Mr. Boggs discussed performance based funding in higher education, which allocates a part of a state's overall appropriation to its post secondary institutions based on student outcomes rather than on enrollment or historically standard allocations. In Indiana, the funding formula was changed to include metrics for specific institutional missions and at-risk students that were connected to student success and economically in demand or "high impact" degrees. In 2015, the formula was refined to be more inclusive of other specific institutional missions with specific goals. In Tennessee, the legislature passed a law, which established that all postsecondary funding would be based on an outcomes based model. This figure was reduced to 85 percent in 2016.  Mr. Boggs and Ms. Villalobos answered questions from the committee.

Ms. Villalobos gave an overview of other types of programs in other states to increase postsecondary enrollment, including Virginia's Fast Forward Credentialing Program and Credit for Prior learning.