To the members of the New Hampshire State House Finance Committee,
My name is John Lappie, I am a professor of political science at Plymouth State. I am here to express my concerns for what the proposed budget cuts will do to our university.
Plymouth’s duty is to provide a quality, affordable, and personal college education. I can tell you- a lot of our students come in rough around the edges. 37% of our in-state students are first-generation, who tend to need a bit more guidance.[1] Some of them, like I was myself as a teen, didn’t do great in High School- having the talent, but maybe they weren’t mature yet, or weren’t challenged or inspired. And we provide the kind of environment they need. Some institutions have large class sizes, where instructors talk at students, not with them, and don’t know them. And for some students, that works. But it doesn’t work for ours.
We know who our students are- the student-faculty ratio at Plymouth is seventeen to one.[2] When they struggle, or they do well, or need a little encouragement, we see them. In our major classes- we see those students twice a week, usually every single semester, until they graduate. And for the bulk of our students, I think that’s what they need- the personal touch. They were always capable- but they needed to be seen.
An article in the New Hampshire Business Review, among other sources, showed our state last in state financial support for higher education.[3] But we are also, as reported in Fobes and by the College Board, the second highest in-state tuition rate in the country.[4] And those rates are set to go up, even as our budget is set to be cut, even as there are proposals- no decisions made, but proposals- at Plymouth to eliminate around 30 faculty positions- that’s around 16% of our faculty.[5] And to permanently shutter eight programs. We are going to be offering our young people a lower quality education, with fewer choices, less knowledge, less skills- at a higher cost.
As of 2022, 58% of New Hampshire high school graduates who attended college- went out of state.[6] That is the highest rate in the country. And it is easy to see why. As of today, in-state students at Plymouth are charged $15,080 a year in tuition and fees.[7] As New England residents, they could enroll in one of 33 programs at Southern Maine, as an example, for about $19,000.[8] And if these cuts go through- institutions like Southern Maine offer them more choice. I think as Granite Staters we need to ask- what do we need to do to give the students of our state the education they deserve? And what are offering them to stay here?
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at jplappie@plymouth.edu.
Sincerely,
John Lappie
Associate Professor of Political Science
Plymouth State University
[1] According to Catherine Golas, Institutional Research and Analytics, USNH. Figure is as of R+30, or 30 days into the Spring, 2025 semester.
[2] Plymouth State, About Us. https://www.plymouth.edu/about
[3] Sletten, P (2022). “Despite recent increases, higher ed funding in New Hampshire trails other states.” New Hampshire Business Review. https://www.nhbr.com/despite-recent-increases-higher-ed-funding-in-new-hampshire-trails-all-other-states/ The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) also ranks New Hampshire last when measured by education appropriations per full-time equivalent student at public universities, at $3,990. The national average is $11,040 for all public institutions, and $10,238 for four-year public institutions. See: https://shef.sheeo.org/report/#report-highlights See also the SHEEO report
[4] See Nietzel, M (2021). “Which states have the least and most expensive public colleges?” Forbes. See: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2021/11/01/which-states-have–the-least-and-the-most-expensive-public-colleges/ For 2024 figures, which also show New Hampshire as the second highest in-state rate in the nation, see College Board’s 2024 study, “Trends in College Pricing 2024: Data in Excel.” Relevant data is Fig CP-6. https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/college-pricing
[5] For number of full-time faculty at Plymouth State, see: https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/plymouth-state-university/academic-life/faculty-composition/ . The figure of 30 faculty members has been communicated to faculty unions as a proposal.
[6] Figures from Department of Education, as reported in Sletten (2022).
[7] Plymouth State tuition figures: https://www.plymouth.edu/student-financial-services/billing-information/tuition-fees
[8] Southern Maine NEBHE eligible programs: https://usm.maine.edu/office-of-admissions/nebhe-tuition-break-program/ Southern Maine tuition figures: Southern Maine tuition figures: https://usm.maine.edu/student-financial-services/undergraduate-tuition-fees/ Tuition rate reported above is for differential level one, or standard, programs. The cost under the NEBHE program is lower for students enrolled in differential 2 and differential 3 programs. The figure of 33 programs New Hampshire students are eligible for under NEBHE does not include the Applied Technical Leadership major, which is currently not accepting students.
