To the editor: We must make Vermont survivable for our youth, families
The Chester Telegraph | Jun 01, 2026 | Comments 2
I am a proud mom of four — and all of my children have left Vermont to pursue careers and opportunities that aren’t available here at home.
My kids are doing exactly what they should be doing — exploring the world and finding what works for them. But my kids are hardly alone — this is the story of a generation of Vermont kids.
Look at UVM as an example — only about a third of our student population are Vermonters.
That means generations of young people are building their lives, careers and families elsewhere. And that’s okay, but imagine what Vermont could look like if even half of them came back.
We’d have fuller schools, more stable property taxes and more vibrant downtowns. Our communities would have enough young families to sustain the services that we all depend on.
Vermont needs young people, but young people need more opportunity.
So what can we do?
We must make our state financially survivable for young Vermonters. We can expand loan forgiveness for Vermonters who return after school and put down roots. We can explore reduced tuition at out-of-state schools for programs Vermont doesn’t offer — in exchange for a commitment to come back and work here. We must also make sure our programs to support first-time homebuyers are more robust and accessible.
I’m running for Vermont Senate to expand opportunities for all Vermonters – you can read more about my campaign by clicking here. Thank you!
Heather Chase
Candidate for Vermont Senate, Windsor District
Chester
Chase is a nurse, a longtime business owner and served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 2022-2024.
Filed Under: Commentary • Letters to the Editor
Gee Heather, maybe if all your anti-business protests and legislations had not seen an exodus of business leave Chester our kids might be still be around ~S~
This is a good starting point for conversation. As a UVM graduate and someone who moved from the big city to VT there are factors Ms. Chase noted that blur the lines between causation and correlation. UVM enrollment of VT students is currently 28%; 3,724 of a total of 13,180 (UVM’s enrollment dashboard) It’s also important to look at the cost of tuition for in and out of state students as well as international. While a student there in the last 10 years I saw the enrollment of international students explode. While there, I heard students discuss the prioritization of out of state/country applicants because they brought in exponentially more tuition dollars. As a health care professional, I’m sure Ms. Chase understands that Vermont is a rural state that is also a medical desert; with little easily accessible basic medical services available to folks who live here unless you live around Burlington. Affordable housing, especially in resort areas is almost impossible to find. The very people supporting the resorts and hospitality industry can’t afford to live where they work. However, understanding our state is of the greatest importance-especially if you are running for office. We have an aging population and one of the lowest birth rates in the nation. According to the Vermont Futures Project, roughly 57% of students who go to college in Vermont leave the state after graduation. High school grads who choose out-of-state universities for specialized degrees often establish careers in those regions. UVM is not the only gig in town and financially out of reach for many Vermont families. According to a study done in 2014 by Catherine Welch , associate dean of student success at St. Michael’s College, she explored what factors increased or decreased the chance a class of 2014 Vermont high school student would choose college. She stated that Vermont has some of the highest tuition rates for state schools and community colleges. She went on to say that this is partially due to VT having one of the lowest level of financial support for public higher education. Welch’s research also identified a 49% drop in state fiscal support between 1980 and 2013 even though the state simultaneously increased funding for higher education. We have a strong and affordable community college system in VT and wonderful higher education and adult learning technical options. For students attending in-state colleges, many transition directly into Vermont’s local workforce in key industries like healthcare, hospitality, education, farming/agriculture and trades. Let’s also not forget that attending college is far from the measure of being successful. As a parent of a kid who went to a prestigious liberal arts college and one who graduated from the local trade high school, why one chose to stay in the area and one did not, had everything to do with whether or not they wanted to live in rural America- not lack of choices.