Vermont Gov. Phil Scott is well known for his affordability agenda. We would not have expected, however, that it includes helping the University of Vermont to build a stately pleasure dome that it apparently cannot otherwise afford.

That, however, is the case. VtDigger reports that the governor is backing a proposal by UVM administrators to divert $15 million from the Higher Education Endowment Trust Fund to jump-start a stalled project to build a sports complex seating 5,000 people. This “multipurpose center”  would be among the largest indoor venues in the state, housing the men’s and women’s basketball teams as well as hosting concerts, lectures, conferences and other events.

As several lawmakers have pointed out, this use of the scholarship money would represent a sharp departure from its intended purpose. To put it more bluntly, it would amount to stealing resources from needy students. Thankfully, House lawmakers did not include this misappropriation of funds in the budget they recently passed and sent on to the Senate.

The trust fund was established by the Legislature in 1999 to provide financial aid to Vermont students attending UVM, the Vermont State Colleges and other Vermont post-secondary institutions. Each year the State Treasurer withdraws up to 5% of the fund’s assets from accrued interest to provide direct student aid and also to send money to the worthy Vermont Student Assistance Corp. The disbursement cannot, however, result in diminishing the fund’s principal.

Last year, the trust fund provided  675 scholarships averaging $1,400 each. While that could be decisive for some recipients, three-quarters of whom are first generation college students,  it’s not a huge amount in the overall scheme of higher education costs and could certainly use a boost. 

The Legislature appropriated $6 million for the fund when it was established, and it gets new funding from the tax assessed on the estates of wealthy people when they die. Last year produced a historic windfall of $26 million from that source, bringing total assets to nearly $66 million, according to VtDigger.

UVM’s position seems to be that nobody will miss the $15 million it is seeking since the fund’s assets would still be larger than in past years and the state money would spur private donors to step up to underwrite their project.

 “We believe this one-time investment is an appropriate use of those funds, because it will allow us to make such an impact on the state,” said UVM president Marlene Tromp. A Scott administration official says the governor backs the project “not only as an investment in our higher education system, but as an economic development and cultural engine for Vermont.”

We respectfully submit that boosting financial aid for Vermont students far outweighs any benefit the state might realize from constructing an arena on which the university has already spent $75 million and which requires $100 million to complete. And Scott, the apostle of affordability, should be the first to recognize that paying for higher education is a burden that holds back not only Vermonters, but the state’s economy as well.

As to the impact of the arena, Tromp pointed to a similar facility at Boise State University, where she was president before moving on to UVM. “I used to be really proud when we hosted ‘Disney on Ice’ at my last campus and all those kids and their families would come,” she recalled.

Thus the UVM complex would bring the Disney-fication of Vermont full circle, evoking contented cows grazing in lush green pastures,  horse-drawn sleighs that make winter a heart-warming ride, and brilliant fall foliage adorning the view from magnificent second homes — all of which obscures the daily struggle experienced by many Vermonters to afford to live in the Green Mountain State.