Keeping hope alive: Lawmakers consider extension to RIC scholarship program

Less than 72 hours before Rhode Island College’s graduating seniors receive their diplomas, lawmakers considered extending the state program that paid tuition for nearly 100 soon-to-be graduates.

The discussion before the House Committee on Finance’s meeting Wednesday stemmed from matching proposals — one submitted by Gov. Dan McKee as a fiscal 2025 budget amendment and a second through a bill backed by the Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner — would tack on two years to the Hope Scholarship program.

The existing 2023 law, and corresponding budget funding, sets up a five-year pilot program running through fiscal 2028 offering free tuition to in-state, full-time RIC students for their third and fourth years. But less than a year into the test-run, state officials and education leaders have made the case that they need more time to see if the scholarship program achieves its intended results.

With the five-year program as-is, only one class of high school graduates — the Class of 2024 — will know about, and be able to qualify for, the last-dollar scholarship before starting college.

Eligible students already enrolled in RIC when the law was passed last year — including 94 scheduled to graduate during Saturday’s baccalaureate commencement ceremony — could also benefit from the program.

“But because they didn’t know about it ahead of time, many weren’t taking the full course load needed to qualify,” Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur, a professor of sociology at RIC and president of its faculty union, said in an interview Wednesday.

“Certainly it benefited some of them,” Arthur said of this year’s seniors. “But they really were not able to make choices with the idea that this was possible.”

McKee’s office offered a similar explanation.

“Extending the pilot program is intended, in part, to provide a larger data set to inform decision-making about the future of the Hope Scholarship,” Olivia DaRocha, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, said in an email. “The extension makes it possible for two more cohorts (i.e., high school graduates in the Class of 2025 and 2026) to make their college decision and complete a four-year degree through this program. The enrollment, retention, and graduation data from these two additional classes is critical to assess the Hope Scholarship’s impact.”

During the 2023-24 academic year, just over 350 juniors and seniors already attending RIC were eligible for the scholarship; 243 ended up actually receiving a portion of the $2.1 million in tuition and fees spent on the program, said John Taraborelli, a RIC spokesperson. As a last-dollar scholarship program, students only receive funds through the Hope Scholarship after other federal aid and grants are applied.

Rhode Island College enrollment struggles continue

Modeled after the free tuition program at the Community College of Rhode Island known as Rhode Island Promise, the RIC equivalent aimed to boost the urban college’s sagging enrollment while incentivizing students to stay, and finish, their degrees in four years. 

Over the last decade, RIC has lost 37.1% of its undergraduates, from a 7,505 peak in the 2013-14 school year. Graduate enrollment has been flat, at about 1,100 students, according to college enrollment data.

Fall 2023 data shows only a slight uptick in full-time undergraduate enrollment, which increased 5% compared to the prior year, and remains 32% below 10 years ago.

Enrollment for the 2024-25 academic year is not yet available, due in part to delays in university deadlines for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Taraborelli said.

However, preliminary undergraduate applications and “commitments” increased 15% over the prior year, according to data shared by Taraborelli.

The Hope Scholarship program offers an avenue to Postsecondary Education Commissioner Shannon Gilkey’s ambitious goal of achieving 70% educational attainment among adult residents by the end of the decade. The rate was just over 56% in 2022, according to data from the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation.

Gilkey also pointed to the benefits in relieving student loan debt in a letter Wednesday to lawmakers.

“Getting a college education in Rhode Island was and remains an expensive investment, but a college degree is a powerful tool for economic mobility for our residents,” Gilkey wrote. 

In late March, Rep. Joseph McNamara, a Warwick Democrat, introduced legislation on Gilkey’s behalf proposing a two-year extension to the Hope Scholarship. Less than two weeks later, McKee submitted an amendment to the fiscal 2025 budget offering an identical proposal through a different mechanism.

McKee’s initial fiscal 2025 spending plan already includes $3.4 million for the Hope Scholarship, with an estimated $8.3 million over the next three fiscal years to keep the program alive through fiscal 2028. Extending the program’s duration through fiscal 2030 would have an $8.9 million price tag, spread over fiscal 2029 and fiscal 2030, according to information presented by state budget crunchers.

Advocates for the Hope Scholarship, including RIC President Jack Warner, touted its initial success Wednesday.

“This is making a tremendous difference in the lives of individual students,” Warner said, citing “significant” increases in freshmen enrollment, credit load and participation in semester courses.

Savannah Jenard, 21, a junior student at RIC studying sociology, recalled the joy among her family members when they learned she qualified for the scholarship last year.

“If 18-year-old me knew I would have the opportunity of the Hope Scholarship to finish my degree without the added stress of loans, I can confidently say I would have chosen RIC 10 times over,” Jenard said to lawmakers Wednesday.

And without the burden of additional student loan debt, Jenard said she feels confident she can afford to pursue a master’s degree after she graduates from RIC in 2025.

What about the University of Rhode Island?

Noticeably absent from the lineup of cheerleaders who came to testify before lawmakers was the University of Rhode Island. The state’s land grant institution and only public research university does not have an equivalent scholarship of its own.

URI President Marc Parlange has lamented how the Rhode Island Promise and Hope Scholarship have drawn students away from URI, in turn limiting access to specialized programs that only URI offers.

Anthony LaRoche, a URI spokesperson, referred to Parlange’s submitted testimony in 2023 regarding the creation of the Hope Scholarship when asked for comment Wednesday.

Parlange in his April 19, 2023, letter urged lawmakers to apply the Hope Scholarship program to eligible URI juniors and seniors.

“All Rhode Islanders deserve access to the state’s flagship public research university,” Parlange wrote.

Arthur, however, pointed out that less than half of URI’s students in 2023 were from Rhode Island.

“URI would like to have it both ways,” Arthur said. “It would like to be a regional college for Rhode Island and also a national research university that attracts students from everywhere. It can’t be both.”

Warner declined to comment when asked about Parlange’s request.

The governor’s office remained noncommittal when asked about Parlange’s request to expand the tuition scholarship program to URI.

“The Governor believes it is important to eliminate barriers to entry for students to access higher education – wherever they decide to attend,” DaRocha said. “We will continue to explore ways to make all three of our higher education institutions more accessible to Rhode Islanders and help ensure that they provide relevant skills and knowledge to meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s economy.”

The legislation was held for further study by the House committee, as is standard practice in an initial hearing. Any proposed budget amendments will be considered by lawmakers as part of their review of the governor’s spending plan, which must be approved by June 30.