N.H. Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s two-year budget calls for the state’s Community College System to maintain its current tuition freeze, but these costs remain among the highest in the nation.

The Education Data Initiative, a nonprofit research organization, found in a report last year that New Hampshire’s average community college tuition of $7,460 is second-highest in the nation, behind South Dakota, and one of only three that exceeds $7,000.

New Hampshire’s community college tuition level has been unchanged since 2018.

In her Feb. 13 budget address, the Republican governor said her spending plan would invest $4.4 million to ensure tuition stays flat and “to make this opportunity as accessible as possible for everyone.”

She also proposed an additional $6 million investment to boost opportunities for students to take community college classes before they graduate high school.

Ayotte said this would give students the chance to “jumpstart their careers in high school, whether by making it faster and cheaper for them to receive necessary training for the career they want, or giving them the exposure and the experience earlier to discover their passion and build their confidence to go for it.

“We are making investments in our community college system to keep career-ready education accessible to our students, ensure our businesses have a dependable pipeline of talent in the trades and other high-demand jobs and build the workforce of tomorrow here in New Hampshire.”

Mark Rubinstein, chancellor of the Community College System, praised the governor.

“We appreciate the value that Governor Ayotte sees in our work and in our graduates’ contributions to New Hampshire’s skilled workforce, whether in healthcare and human services, advanced manufacturing and the trades, business and technology and more,” he said in written reaction to her speech.

About 24,000 students attend community colleges in the state, including the Claremont-based River Valley, which also offers classes in Keene and Lebanon.

Many of these students will go on to four-year institutions in the state, which also have relatively high tuition.

In-state tuition and fees at four-year public institutions in New Hampshire average $17,019, second only to Vermont’s, according to the Education Data Initiative. The statewide public university system includes Keene State College.

Nationally, many people emerge from college with significant student debt.

One New Hampshire legislator is backing a measure aimed at making it more likely students will get a good return on the high cost of a college education.

Rep. Travis Corcoran, R-Weare, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 722, which would mandate potential criminal or civil liability for educational institutions with excessive tuition as defined under the measure.

He said many young people complete college only to find out they can’t find a job lucrative enough to allow them to pay off their debt.

“You see 29-year-olds who are $300,000 in debt and effectively have no career path ahead of them because they are in a field that may be pleasing to them but maybe pays $30,000 a year,” he told the House Judiciary Committee in a public hearing on his bill on Feb. 3.

“A lot of the laments you hear from people are, ‘I will never be able to afford to get married,’ or ‘I will never be able to buy a house.’ ”

Tuition would be legally actionable under the bill if 30 percent of average salaries for graduates in a degree program is insufficient to cover annual student loan payments.

There are opportunities for keeping students’ college costs down, said Shannon Reid, executive director of government affairs and communications for the state’s Community College System.

“First of all there is federal aid primarily in the form of Pell Grants for students who demonstrate eligibility, primarily financial need,” Reid said.

“We also have scholarships available through the Foundation for N.H. Community Colleges, which raises funds through philanthropy and corporate support.”

Some community college students learn technical skills and trades, get good-paying jobs and don’t immediately go on to a four-year program, she said.

“We have a specific program called Apprenticeship New Hampshire, which works with employers to create apprentice programs so students can earn while they learn,” she said. “Under this program students get hired by an employer and receive on-the-job training and wages and at the same time, they attend our colleges and receive related instruction in the field.”

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.