Today Maggie Hassan touts giving kids college credit for courses they took in high school as a gift to middle-class families. The idea is we can get our kids out of college in three years instead of four, and save money.
Under the circumstances that the state of New Hampshire is worst in the nation for financing higher ed, yes, that would save me money. But guess what? I don’t want three-quarters of an education for my children, I want the real deal. Nobody is suggesting that the graduates of Exeter stop attending Harvard after three years, and it is a betrayal of the public trust for a New Hampshire Democrat to suggest that three years is an adequate college education for middle-class kids.
I am as disgusted with Gov. Chris Sununu’s budget cuts to public education as the next person – in fact, probably angrier since my children are both in the public schools. How are we the people going to fight back against those cuts if our Democratic senator suggests turning a middle-class college education into three-quarters of a degree?
I suggest we find the guts to raise taxes and do right by the next generation. I have been teaching economics to students for 19 years at Keene State College – that’s thousands of students. I never gave three-quarters of an education to them, and I expect the state of New Hampshire to offer my kids a first-rate, high-quality education. I certainly expect the Democrats to fight for one.
MARIE DUGGAN
Keene
(The writer is a professor of economics at Keene State College.)