Hopes for designation for colleges serving first-gen students ends

Funding formula stymies House Bill 1114

BY JASON GONZALES CHALKBEAT COLORADO

On the surface, the bill had a simple premise — to recognize Colorado universities and colleges that enroll a high number of students who are the rst in their family to go to college and communicate to those students that they are welcome on campus.

e most symbolic bill, however, prompted a more complicated conversation about whether creating a rst generation-serving designation would lead to those schools getting more state funding. In a state that funds its public colleges near the bottom of the nation, any hint at changing the distribution of money raises concerns for university leaders.

Faced with opposition from larger schools that serve fewer rst-generation students, the sponsors pulled House Bill 1114 before it went to vote on the House oor.

Bill co-sponsor state Rep. Rick Taggart, a Grand Junction Republican, said he wants to talk more with university leaders and bring the bill back next year. He said it troubled him that the opposition centered on funding concerns when the bill didn’t call for any changes to the