New Hampshire policymakers want to have it both ways when it comes to higher education.

Out of one side of their mouths, they say they want a system that lines up with the needs of business and industry in the state.

But they also say – through their actions – that they’re fine with having some of the least affordable tuition rates in the country. They must be fine with it, because they could change it if they had the political will to summon the sort of financial support other states provide their institutions of higher learning.

That is especially true of the community college system, which just announced that it would freeze tuition for the 2016-17 school year.

According to the Community College System of New Hampshire website: "Tuition at the state’s seven community colleges has not risen since 2011. In 2014 CCSNH decreased its per credit rate 5 percent to its present level of $200. System leaders felt it was important to arrest the trend of escalating tuition costs and worked with state budget-writers on funding levels that would enable the years of freezes and the reduction."

New Hampshire’s higher education system has a lot of things going for it, including the Dual Admission Program that allows students to seamlessly transition from the state’s two-year colleges to one of its four-year institutions.

The state’s community colleges run some good programs that are responsive to the need for skilled workers in the state. One need look no further than the recently expanded advanced manufacturing facility at Nashua Community College. When they held an open house in April, the turnout was tremendous.

But if you are a student who thinks such a program might be right up your alley, your eagerness may be tempered by the reality of what it costs to attend NCC. Because what New Hampshire’s community colleges don’t have going for them is affordability. That makes a tuition freeze a sensible move, but its also an unsustainable one.

Ours are among the most expensive two-year institutions in the country. The U.S. Department of Education reported that in 2014, five of New Hampshire’s seven two-year schools ranked among the top 10 most expensive for in-state tuition. The yearly average of $7,100 was nearly $4,000 more than the national average for similar schools, according to the DOE data.

What makes New Hampshire’s community colleges so much more expensive? They don’t have a level of state support that allows them to be competitive.

As Richard Gulla, president of the union that represents state employees, wrote in an opinion piece published in The Telegraph in March, "Our state leaders have been content with supporting our community colleges with the lowest level of state funding in the country, the highest in-state tuition and a faculty that sits in the bottom fifth of compensation nationally."

Some state senators have asked for an audit of the CCSNH, and that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with scrutiny and a closer look at the system may find places to save money.

But an audit is not a strategy, and New Hampshire families are entitled to a higher education plan that is more than just freezing tuition and waiting for other states’ schools to get more expensive than ours.

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