Sweeney proposes study on deferring tuition

TRENTON To tamp down college costs, New Jersey's Senate president is proposing a study of new options for students, including a program that would defer tuition at state schools.

Under the so-called Pay It Forward program, students would pay a percentage of their income for a certain number of years after graduating instead of tuition up front.

The concept, also proposed in Oregon and Pennsylvania, has drawn some criticism from teachers' unions and questions about its feasibility.

It is one of several ideas Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) wants a panel to study to make college in New Jersey more affordable. The Senate Higher Education Committee is expected to take up Sweeney's bill Thursday to create a commission and ask it to examine several options.

"The great equalizer in education is becoming harder and harder for poor and middle-class kids to have," Sweeney said in an interview last week.

At Rutgers University, for instance, undergraduate tuition has doubled since 2001, to $10,718 this year.

In September, Sweeney introduced a bill closely resembling one passed in Oregon this year to form a commission to decide whether to create a pilot program replacing the tuition system at state schools, requiring students to pay a percentage of their annual adjusted gross incomes for a number of years after graduation.

Sweeney has revised the bill to broaden the commission's scope to a range of options - including letting high-performing high school students pursuing medical and graduate-level science degrees complete their degrees earlier and allowing students enrolled for two years at community colleges to complete their degrees at four-year institutions through degree-program partnerships.

The revised bill also expands the number of members on the proposed commission from seven to 10, to include a faculty member appointed jointly by the American Association of University Professors, the New Jersey Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey.

On the national level, unions have opposed Pay It Forward programs, voicing concerns that they could increase costs for many students and could lead to states' disinvesting in higher education.

"The most important thing on that bill is there be faculty involvement. It's a very complex issue," said Steve Young, executive director of the Council of New Jersey State College Locals, which represents faculty and staff in 11 AFT chapters.

Last year, students in Oregon proposed a plan to defer tuition and instead pay back 3 percent of their earnings for 24 years after graduation, according to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The proposal - its details were not adopted by the Oregon legislature, which instead tasked a commission with outlining a pilot program - does not account for the start-up costs of the program or tuition inflation, said Mark Kantrowitz, senior vice president and publisher of Edvisors.com, which publishes websites on paying for college.

Kantrowitz said 3 percent over 24 years was "probably not realistic" in covering costs. He said a 10 percent rate over 10 years would be the most realistic approach.

Other problems remain, Kantrowitz said: The proposal floated in Oregon would take a fixed percentage of a student's income, so students who make less would pay less.

Students who graduate with higher-paying jobs, meanwhile, could end up paying more than they would have through traditional loans, Kantrowitz said. That prospect could lead students with higher incomes to move out of state, he said.

To address the disparities, states considering such programs could set repayment obligations based on a student's course of study, Kantrowitz said.

In Pennsylvania, State Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Phila.) and State Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) - both of whom have announced bids for Congress - have introduced Pay It Forward measures in the Assembly.

Kantrowitz noted that income-based repayment loans were available through the federal government to students with debt exceeding their starting salaries, with loan payments calculated based on a percentage of discretionary income.

George Pernsteiner, president of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, said states weighing Pay It Forward proposals needed to consider how they would collect money from students who moved away.

But the concept has spurred important discussion, Pernsteiner said: "Whether this is the best idea, or a good idea or not, it's really something that has sparked a conversation in ways that none of the ideas that have been kicked around the past few years have done."