DESPITE the tendency of the "U.Va. Bubble" to cut students off from the outside world, most of us at the University are, at the very least, vaguely aware that Virginia is in some financial trouble. For those of you who have somehow managed to miss the boat on this one, here is the basic situation: Gov. Mark R. Warner currently is facing the problem of reconciling a $3.5 billion budget deficit, which he will have to deal with over the next two and a half years.
Too bad for him, you say? Well, yes, but unfortunately it's not that simple. The reality here is that this is not some far-away political problem that has no direct effect on us. You would have to have been living in a cave for the last few months not to have heard about the controversy surrounding faculty hiring freezes at the University due to the state budget deficit. This issue already has shown that it will have serious negative effects on the University and its students in the next few years, and the whole situation is about to get much worse. After initially proposing a five percent tuition increase for all public schools, Warner now has hiked that number up even further. Because the majority of this extra money will go to the Commonwealth and not to the University, what this tuition raise essentially amounts to is a tax. This is unfair and unacceptable.
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Protests recently broke out at George Mason University as Warner announced his new plan, through which "kickbacks" hopefully will help universities "compensate" for the heavy blows they are about to be dealt in their state funding. For example, according to the Washington Post in their Feb. 7 article, "How Warner Budget Could Affect Your Life," the University (which, to begin with, only has received roughly 20 percent of its funding from the state in recent years), would undergo a three percent cut in 2002, followed by a seven percent cut in 2003 and an eight percent cut in 2004. In addition to this, Warner hopes to pass yet another cut of $105 million to all state schools.
This plan is problematic for several reasons. Essentially, our tuition would be raised, but, as stated, most of the extra money that we will be paying will not go to the betterment of the University. Instead, this money will go directly to the Commonwealth itself - the same Commonwealth, mind you, that refused to give us more than 25 percent funding in recent years - to help alleviate Virginia's poor financial situation. While Warner has promised some element of "kickback" in return for these funds, this sum will not rival that which is to be awarded the Commonwealth through this tuition rise, and hardly solves the problem at hand. We are here trying to get an education. Those of us who are government majors and plan eventually to run for election to the General Assembly can then account for the budget issues of the Commonwealth. But until that time comes for this undoubtedly small percentage of individuals, this is not our problem.
Contrary to popular belief, not every University student is privileged enough to have a mommy and daddy who easily can satisfy his every financial need. There are students here whose parents need to scrimp and save to get them through college. There are students here who are putting themselves through college. This tuition hike will pose real difficulties for many people who should have no business worrying about what is going on in Richmond.
Finally and most importantly, it is nothing short of absurd for our tuition to rise as the quality of the University goes down. It's no secret that many departments of the University are in major need of faculty expansion, but due to the new decreases in state funding, classes have been cut rather than added.
There are changes that we temporarily are going to have to make at the University in order to work within the confines set forth by the budget deficit. These are undesirable but understandable, and we have to accept them. It is not just this university that will suffer three, seven and eight percent cuts over the next three years. All state-funded institutions in Virginia are faced with the same problem, and for now everyone just needs to accept that that is the way it is for awhile, and adjust to the best of our abilities.
However, the added $105 million that Warner wants from Virginia schools and which will raise our tuition five percent is unjust and cannot be supported. This move takes power away from our Board of Visitors (who usually determine the price of tuition) and holds students responsible for budget problems to which they have no connection. Perhaps we should consider following the lead of the George Mason students and stage a protest. Maybe we could petition Warner to reconsider this move. What is certain, however, is that we cannot merely sit back and accept this new tuition increase. We need to exercise our rights and resist being unfairly held accountable for a problem that we did not create.
(Laura Parcells is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. She can be reached at lparcells@cavalierdaily.com.)
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