The Kids are not Alright
{ Nicholas Lazzarro }
Prices are soaring across the board. From rents, to groceries to the $8 bagel I impulse bought the other day. Middle class students are getting squeezed from numerous economic areas. Worcester has been a city on the rise, with the introduction of new businesses, more development, and a “renaissance”, most outside observers would call this economic progress notable and an exciting time in Worcester. However since these developments, residents and young people alike have been getting pinched in the process. There are now fewer professional job opportunities for recent graduates, rents are sky-high, and long term residents are getting pushed out or becoming homeless.
Worcester has a great reputation of being a college town. Similar to Amherst and Boston, Worcester is home to great research institutions, liberal arts schools, community college and trade programs that offer a plethora of opportunities for all students. Sadly, this also produces bloated institutions who have 501c 3 status and do not contribute to the tax base of Worcester. As a result, properties occupied by Holy Cross, WPI, Clark, and others do not add much needed funding to the city's infrastructure, programming, or schools.
Subsequently, Worcester relies heavily on businesses, property owners and their renters to flip the bill. This not only is unfair, it is straight up robbery. Why? Tuitions at these colleges are strapping middle class students with on average $70,000 of debt per year. From the time I began my education at Holy Cross tuition has risen over 8% in just 3 years. Yet Holy Cross sits on over a One Billion Dollar endowment, where WPI has $589 million, and Clark sits at $506 million. The expectations with “non-profit” status are that these institutions would provide services to the community, open up their campuses to the neighborhoods, and encourage the enrichment of others. However this could not be further from the truth. The iron gates of these campuses alone stand as an indictment of this broken promise. They have little intention to share their resources with others who are disadvantaged and offer limited opportunities to students in their own backyard.
As a result Worcester has become hyper-dependent on businesses, homeowners and developers to contribute to their property tax base. In more recent years Worcester’s outside developers have been swooping in to control the renters market in Worcester. As we speak there are 2 massive luxury apartment complexes under construction with rents close to and over $2,000 monthly. So, renters are also becoming burdened with developer’s newly incurred property tax expenses. This prohibits young people the ability to stay in Worcester post-grad, and to pursue meaningful, good paying professional work in the city they learned in.
Some have argued that these colleges deserve their tax exempt status for the enriching education they provide and community work they do. However, massive colleges curving tax liabilities by their 501 C 3 status, defies logic. Why? Many small and medium sized companies in Worcester like my own, pay incredibly high property, state and federal taxes on their businesses, comply with city regulations, and all the while still contribute to the greater community. They contribute to local sports leagues, nonprofits and other philanthropic efforts that enrich the community, yet they pay their fair share in taxes. The time is now for colleges to fork over on their property taxes. Our young people and seniors deserve a chance to start out in the city they love and retire in the city they've known their whole life. Residents and businesses should not bear the burden of poor tax policy perpetuated by multi million and billion dollar college institutions that benefit from being in Worcester.