It just got tougher for Georgia’s students to afford college. Last week the Board of Regents of the state’s university system raised tuition for fall 2013. The tuition hikes range from a high of 7 percent at Georgia Tech to 2.5 percent at state universities. Students at the state’s flagship, the University of Georgia, will see their tuition jump 5 percent between the current school year and next. Being a member of Bulldog Nation isn’t cheap.

These increases follow years of tuition hikes. Students entering Georgia Tech this fall will pay 70 percent more than those who entered in fall 2008 and at UGA entering students will pay 65 percent more. While increases are greatest at these two schools, tuition has gone up about 50 percent or more over the last five years at regional and state universities. Since 2003 tuition has more than doubled at every four-year university in the system.

Many students and their families can’t afford these tuition increases. Median household income in Georgia fell between 2008 and 2011, the most recent year available. The combination of rising tuition and falling income means tuition consumes a larger portion of families’ financial resources. In 2003, tuition and fees at Georgia Tech or UGA amounted to 5 percent of the typical family’s income. By 2011 that number climbed to 9 percent for families with a student at Georgia Tech and 10 percent for those with a student at UGA.

At the same time the HOPE scholarship, the state’s largest financial aid program, has been shrinking. The scholarship covers far less now than in past years: only a portion of tuition instead of the full amount and nothing anymore for books or mandatory fees, which have soared. And there is no statewide need-based financial aid initiative that could help middle-class and low-income families replace the missing HOPE dollars.

The escalating cost of higher education in Georgia is the result of deep cuts in state support amounting to over $1 billion since 2009. Belt-tightening measures like increasing class size and using more part-time instructors can’t offset budget cuts of this magnitude. University system leaders have been pushed to raise tuition, relying on students and their families to cover costs.

The Legislature’s decision to make such deep cuts to higher education is short-sighted. It will very likely deter many students from enrolling in a college or university or lead them to drop out. This hurts all Georgians, for the state’s economic future depends on having an educated and skilled workforce. If college enrollment and completion rates don’t improve significantly, the state won’t have the workers that employers need. The likely result: Georgia won’t attract new companies and could lose existing ones to states that are investing in education.

The budget cuts that spurred these dramatic tuition increases weren’t inevitable. Legislators could have raised revenues but chose not to. As they scramble to find ways to pay for college next year, Georgia’s students have more and more reasons to question that decision.

The rising costs of college have received lots of attention nationwide and in Mississippi. Here, we take a closer look at college costs relative to changes in household income in the state.

Simply put, the incomes families earn are not keeping pace with the increases in tuition across Mississippi’s community college system. Since 1995, Mississippi’s median household income has risen 6 percent after accounting for inflation (see chart). In contrast, the cost of tuition, housing and a 5-day meal plan at Mississippi’s community colleges has grown by 38 percent.

As college costs grow faster than income, tuition and fees at colleges are taking up a larger share of the resources Mississippi families have. In 1995 tuition, housing and meals accounted for one tenth of the median income for a Mississippi household. By 2011, average costs had risen to one eighth of median household income.

It has been well established that a family’s economic situation and the cost of college affect a student’s decision to attend college. In an effort to reduce the costs of college to residents, Mississippi administers three state-funded financial aid programs to undergraduate students^[i]:

• Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant (MESG);
• Mississippi Resident Tuition Assistance Grant (MTAG) and;
• Higher Education Legislative Plan for Needy Students (HELP).

Even with the availability of federal financial aid and institutional scholarships, state funded aid remains critical to helping students attend college without a burdensome level of debt. Each of these grant programs require that students attend college or a university full-time and two require students to apply for funds within a short time from high school graduation. Both these criteria make the awards inaccessible for working adults or adults returning to refresh skills after several years of work. Finally, only one of these grant programs, HELP, is awarded based on the financial need of the student.

As state leaders look for opportunities to expand financial support of students in the wake of rising costs, continuing to make strong investments in these scholarship programs will remain important. However, it is equally important that Mississippi looks for opportunities to expand state aid to non-traditional students, working adults, and students that demonstrate financial need. Considering these populations in the design of state financial aid is critical to keeping educational opportunities accessible for thousands of members of Mississippi’s workforce and low-income students.

We all know it. The surest path out of poverty is a good job with benefits. But to get one of these good-paying jobs, Mainers need more education and training. To give low-income workers the skills they need, Maine must expand access to higher education.

The data are clear. States with lower levels of education have higher rates of unemployment and poverty. Yet Maine continues to fall behind many other states in educational attainment.

First, nearly 34 percent of Mainers ages 18 to 64 have only a high school diploma or equivalent; in all of the other New England states, more people have received some degree beyond high school.

Next, 24 percent of Mainers ages 18 to 64 have some post-secondary education, but no degree. The rate of degree completion in Maine is less than all other New England states, except Rhode Island.

Finally, only 35 percent of Mainers ages 18 to 64 have an associate degree or higher. Maine lags behind New England in rate of attainment for higher education.

Today, the vast majority of jobs that pay wages sufficient to support a family requires higher education. Without it, Mainers in low-paying jobs will stay there, relegated to working long hours, struggling to get by, and living in poverty. And we can no longer ignore that what is bad for our low-income families is also bad for the rest of Maine. It leaves employers without the skilled workforce they need, prevents businesses from expanding, and stunts our state’s economic growth.

For low-income working adults to succeed in higher education, they often need supports in addition to—and different from—those available to traditional students. Adult students with children to care for are hardest-pressed. In one state (Kentucky), the demand of family responsibilities was the most common reason given for leaving community college before earning a degree.

We used to understand this. Just five years ago, with bipartisan support, lawmakers put in place programs to address the barriers that working students face. But the governor and legislature have given these effective, and sometimes transformational, programs short shrift of late, such as:

Parents as Scholars (PaS) program: PaS helps Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)-eligible parents earn two- or four-year college degrees. It pays for support services that working parents need like child care, transportation, and occupational expenses. Thousands of Maine parents went back to school under this program, earning credentials, and getting off welfare. But enrollment dropped dramatically when legislatively-imposed time limits for TANF kicked in in 2012 and individuals lost their TANF benefits and with them their opportunity to finish their degree.

Competitive Skills Scholarship program (CSSP): CSSP provides grants to low-income students not only for tuition and books, but also for child care and transportation, which are critical for adult students to enter and stay in school. CSSP has the added advantage of being designed to educate students in high-demand careers like health care, computer technology, and library science and thus meeting Maine employers’ needs as well. In his latest budget this year, the governor has proposed cutting CSSP by a half million dollars.

Child Care programs: Maine’s Head Start and Child Care Subsidy programs ensure high quality child care that allows parents to work and go to school. Governor LePage and the 125th Maine Legislature cut $2 million in Head Start funding (taking over 200 children out of the program) and cut $2 million from the child care subsidy program (affecting 1,200 children).

Education is fundamental to higher wages and lower poverty. Unfortunately for working adults going back to school, the hurdles often prove too large to overcome. What’s more, the work supports needed for success either do not exist or fall to state budget cuts. Wise state policies and smart public investments like PaS, CSSP, and child care programs can remove barriers to education that will help low-income working families prosper.

LCRED should pass the bill unanimously. Raising the minimum wage by a dollar would reward hard-working Mainers and help pull Maine’s economy out of the doldrums after the worst recession since the Great Depression.

First, increasing Maine’s minimum wage is long overdue. The buying power of the minimum wage in Maine is lower than it was forty years ago. Wages for low-income working families have barely grown in 30 years. Maine families are working harder than ever but they still can’t pay their bills. Inequality has soared over the past thirty years while wages have stagnated, work hours have increased, economic growth has slowed, and boom-and-bust business cycles have wreaked havoc on wage earners and their families.

Increasing the minimum wage to $8.50 per hour would give a raise to 47,000 Maine workers currently making less than $8.50. (See the table at the end of this post for more information).

Second, raising the minimum wage is good for Maine’s economy. Small businesses in Maine are suffering from poor sales in the wake of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Meanwhile, at the national level, it’s no coincidence that corporate profits as a percent of GDP are at all-time highs while wages for workers as a percent of GDP are at all-time lows. The recession is over for US corporations, but not for US workers.

Raising the minimum wage by a dollar and indexing it to inflation will put $50 million in the pockets of Maine workers who are most likely to spend it in Maine’s economy. Recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute estimates that raising Maine’s minimum wage to $8.50 would add up to $33 million to the state’s economy. Why? Raising the minimum wage would transfer dollars from record-high stacks of idle corporate cash to the paychecks of Maine’s workers. They will spend that money at local businesses and help get Maine’s economy get back on track.

Finally—contrary to the claims of opponents—LD 611 won’t result in higher unemployment. The employment effects of the minimum wage are among the most studied topics in all of economics and the bulk of the evidence is clear: modest increases in the minimum wage have very little or no effect on unemployment. This is all well-documented in a recent review of the literature by Jon Schmitt, an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.  Most notably, Schmitt points to two recent “meta-analyses” that summarize the findings of dozens of academic studies that tested for disemployment effects of minimum wage increases. The results are clear: minimum wage increases have very little or no effect on unemployment.

Most economists argue that raising the federal minimum wage to $9, as proposed by President Obama, is a good idea. A recent poll by the Chicago Booth School of Business found that a majority of top economists from around the nation agree that “the distortionary costs of raising the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour and indexing it to inflation are sufficiently small compared with the benefits to low-skilled workers who can find employment that this would be a desirable policy.”

The opinion of economists and the results of empirical studies are good indicators, but we also have information about what job-seekers themselves think about the minimum wage. By an overwhelming margin, job seekers think raising the minimum wage would be good for them personally and good for the country.

Raising the minimum wage will reward Maine workers and improve Maine’s economy. Lawmakers should vote “ought to pass” on Friday.

Addendum: Who would get a raise from LD 611?

If Kentucky moves forward with the Medicaid expansion, uninsured workers across Kentucky’s economy could gain health coverage. Workers at restaurants, construction sites, grocery stores and child care centers are among those who would benefit.

Kentuckians who staff the checkout line at the grocery store, care for kids at child care centers, and work on construction sites are among the workers who stand to benefit if the state expands Medicaid in 2014. The expansion would help support both working familiesand the state’s economy by providing health insurance to more than 146,000 Kentucky workers. It’s a bargain, too. The state would pay nothing for the first three years, and no more than 10 percent of the cost after that.

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of the 2011 American Community Survey. Adults are those aged 19 through 64. Workers are those who have worked within the past year. These twenty industries represent 60% of uninsured workers in Kentucky who would benefit from the Medicaid expansion.

Through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) states have the opportunity to expand Medicaid to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line—$31,809 for a family of four.[1] The expansion would offer health coverage to workers in a broad range of industries and services that help drive Kentucky’s economy and improve our quality of life. Thousands of store clerks, cooks, waiters and waitresses, construction workers, child care workers, hair stylists, and nursing home caregivers would qualify.

Almost two thousand workers in motor vehicle production would qualify, and a similar number who provide support services in schools and universities. Many of the workers who could gain coverage—including nearly 3,900 workers in nursing care facilities and 1,800 in hospitals—are in occupations that involve caring for the health and well-being of others and do work that is physically demanding or that exposes them to significant health risks.

The Medicaid expansion could also help nearly 55,000 Kentuckians who have lost their jobs, many as a result of the 2007-2009 recession and slow recovery.[2]

Kentucky should make the decision to move forward with the Medicaid expansion. It would give thousands of Kentucky workers in all segments of our state’s economy better economic security and an improved quality of life.

The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy is a non-profit, non-partisan initiative that conducts research, analysis and education on important policy issues facing the Commonwealth. Launched in 2011, the Center is a project of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED). For more information, please visit KCEP’s website at www.kypolicy.org.