After the Tuition Cap and College Opportunity Act of 2012 was shot down by lawmakers in Annapolis this spring, Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s) – the bill’s sponsor – was ready with an explanation: “It didn’t pass because the University System [of Maryland] didn’t put its weight behind it,” Rosapepe said. “It will take a massive mobilization by students, by faculty, by alumni.”
The bill would mandate funding to the University System of Maryland, tie tuition rates to the state’s median income levels and eventually – by 2023 – cap tuition increases for university system institutions. Rosapepe vows to reintroduce similar legislation next year.
But neither the bill’s short-lived existence in the state Senate nor Rosapepe’s explanation should come as a surprise, because articles about the bill’s failure have become a veritable mainstay in the Diamondback’s spring arsenal of story topics. Dating back to 2007, readers have witnessed headlines ranging from hopeful (“State legislation faces some hurdles,” “Right bill, wrong time”) to frank (“Lawmakers ignore bills funding university,” “Tuition reform packs little punch”) – all of them describing, in some way or another, the failure of the latest iteration in Rosapepe’s annual Tuition Cap and College Opportunity Act game.
In fact, for each of the last six years, Rosapepe has introduced legislation to mandate a tuition cap for university system institutions, and for six years, his proposals have been shot down – usually not even making it out of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. According to a Diamondback article written in 2010, the bill’s hearing lasted less than five minutes that year and then-Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George’s) “at one point seemed confused about what it even contained.”
Every year, Rosapepe blames the university system for the bill’s failure and promises to reintroduce similar legislation the next year. Every year, Rosapepe plays the part of the student advocate: “We need to be investing more, not less, in higher education,” he says. Indeed, students face ever-higher tuition, including a potential 10 percent increase this fall if Gov. Martin O’Malley doesn’t call a special legislative session to reconcile the “doomsday” budget passed last week in Annapolis.
Sen. Rosapepe – you’re starting to sound like a broken record. Do you introduce this legislation year after year because it actually has a chance of becoming law, or because you simply want to be seen as an advocate for higher education?
It doesn’t take a mathematician to realize Rosapepe’s latest proposal is financially untenable. The odds of lawmakers passing a bill that adds hundreds of millions of dollars to the state’s budget over the next few years – just as officials deal with a funding gap of nearly $1 billion – isn’t just small, it’s infinitesimally small.
It’s true that Rosapepe has, over the years, been a strong advocate for higher education in the this state. He spent about five years on the university system’s Board of Regents in between stints in Annapolis – first as a delegate, now as a senator. Rosapepe has worked closely with graduate students on unionization rights and has always been responsive to student concerns. But is there really any point to introducing dead-on-arrival legislation year after year? Public service is a “what have you done for me lately” proposition and, when it comes to funding higher education in this state, Rosapepe doesn’t seem to have accomplished very much.
