Next year's crop of incoming University students will save $20 on their admissions application fee, thanks to a bill passed yesterday by the Virginia General Assembly.
The budget amendment, proposed by Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R), provides the University with $2 million to renovate Peabody Hall and calls for a $20 reduction in the current $60 application fee.
One year ago, the University upped the admissions fee from $40 to $60 to help fund the Peabody renovation. With the amendment to House Bill 29, a budget bill for the 1998-2000 fiscal years, Gilmore allocated $2 million for Peabody Hall's renovation, thus eliminating the need for the elevated application fee.
Included in the bill was a proviso stipulating that the $2 million only would be provided if the University nullified the increased application fee.
"It's great the governor wants to put general funds into the renovation of Peabody to reduce the application fee for students," University Director of Budget Melody Bianchetto said.
Collette Sheehy, University vice president for management and budget, said the bill parallels the governor's belief in not raising fees for students, particularly for in-state students. Gilmore has ordered a tuition freeze for in-state students as well.
Sheehy said the University is "very supportive of the governor's amendment and the action the House took."
Gilmore spoke with University Rector John P. Ackerly III and Leonard W. Sandridge, University executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a meeting last week regarding the proposed amendment.
"We anticipated [the bill] would pass," Ackerly said.
After Peabody renovations, which will be completed in about a year, the building will house the Office of Admissions. Peabody currently houses the Office of the Dean of Students. Until this year, several student organizations also had office space in Peabody, but these groups were forced to relocate.
Currently, the Office of Admissions is located in Miller Hall, which will be demolished to build a new underground special collections library.
Both Sheehy and Ackerly said they doubted the lower fee will impact the number of applicants to the University, as there is no past evidence establishing a link between application fees and the number of applicants.
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