To your point on inequality though, would merit based scholarships then never be appropriate or fair? You can control for financial need easier than you can control for any other circumstance that could change a students ability to succeed.

Also when you say “SERVICE” do you know that to be the case? The janitorial staff etc. all get the tuition benefit after one year as well so I always just assumed that extended into the dining services areas as well but if Sodexo is a third party contractor with the school that could make sense.

There’s clearly a problem with how expensive UVM is but then having 44% of in state students on a zero tuition plan is still substantial. 12 of the 44% are faculty / staff dependents and the rest are need / merit based scholarships and grants.

One of the biggest pieces of the puzzle is that often students don’t even know what grants or funding they’d be eligible for. I was sure my family couldn’t afford college until I sat down with my high school guidance counselor and he walked me through getting access to as many need based routes as I could. Everyone isn’t so lucky to get help to figure out all the forms and applications etc etc

I’m of a stance where state universities should be 100% free for their states residents so in my opinion that 44% isn’t high enough but truly I am curious if you can propose something that is able to balance all the competing factors that currently render merit based anything entirely unequal.

While I agree that UVM is too expensive as a graduate myself… The majority of tuition free attendance is not the green and gold program. You might be surprised to learn it’s primarily children of faculty members. After a certain amount of time at UVM, any faculty members kids can attend full ride - this is partially why UVM has so many roles that would usually have a high turnover rate getting held onto.

Furthermore, the vast majority of students get SOME amount of financial aid, typically need driven rather than merit driven (89% of students get some form of discount as per the reporting of UVM’s student financial services).

While this is also PR - UVM Keeps Tuition Frozen for Fifth Consecutive Year, New Scholarship Offers Full Tuition to Vermonters from Households with Incomes up to $60k

I love to rag on UVM but let’s rag on them for the real scummy things they do, I think you’re focusing on the wrong thing if you think the 1 kid that each eligible Vermont high school / some border schools is able to nominate to receive the scholarship every year is the core of UVM’s inequality.