THIS WEEK the Board of Visitors approved a rare mid-year hike in tuition to the tune of $385. Naturally, this brought screams of "foul play" from students, parents and others who have an interest in how big a slice of pie we, the consumers of higher education, should be expected to cough up. Sure, this is a state institution. Of course, the Commonwealth has a responsibility to fund this institution appropriately. Yeah, out-of-state kids pay more than they probably should. We know that if juxtaposed, the average out-of-state student is generally more competitive than the average in-state applicant.
But let's be honest here. It is past time to move beyond the whining and finger pointing. When taken from the perspective of populist Virginia legislators, it's no wonder they act the way they do. Let's take a step back, take a breath, and think a moment before we march on the State Capitol.
Congratulations -- you have just been elected a delegate to the House of Delegates from Northern Virginia. Nearly a third of the Commonwealth's voters are packed into the suburbs to the south of D.C. The communities are on the average dramatically more affluent, which means schools are much better funded when compared to the rest of the Commonwealth. Mail to your legislative office will certainly contain numerous letters from constituents whose kids just got rejected from the University with amazing GPAs and stellar boards. It's true, the University could probably fill the entire first-year class with competitive students from Fairfax County. This explains why delegates have serious apprehensions about pumping money into an institution that so many of their constituents can't get into in the first place.
Now, let's add a few more elements to the scenario. A very well-funded referendum campaign was just defeated in your backyard because it wanted to raise the sales tax by half a cent. How excited are you going to be about raising tuition costs for your already fiscally-disgruntled constituency? About as pumped as the first-year dude at the end of the overcrowded frat keg line. Again, once you step into the shoes of a state delegate or senator, it becomes clearer why the University hasn't been at the head of the line for handouts.
Former Gov. George Allen even took things to the next step. He made tuition lower during the economic boom of the mid-90's and imposed a statutory freeze on the cost to in-state students. Although he didn't intend to stick it to the colleges -- the Commonwealth was supposed to pony up the forgone tuition revenue -- the economy tanked and the promised supplemental income never materialized. It was a big political win for Allen, but yet again made for bad politics in terms of the University's welfare.
However, sympathy for these politicians does not a better system of education make. You get the picture -- it's not pretty.
That means today, Virginians pay less than our big brothers and sisters paid a decade ago, once you factor in tuition. Last year, they thawed the tuition freeze, and gave the right back to our boards of visitors to increase tuition according to institutional need. But the legislature was slick and mandated that out-of-state to in-state student ratios remain constant. That way those perturbed parents in Northern Virginia don't flood their mailboxes. And what's more, they decided that in-state tuition levels could only come up so much, so fast. That way, the anti-tax (or in this case, anti-fee) crowd wouldn't come out of the woodwork.
Now, in a perfect world it would be wonderful if the legislature would fix Virginia's revenue stream and offer a responsible level of funding, being that we are a state school and all. Yeah right, and pigs can fly. Don't hold your breath on this conservative General Assembly -
and that's conservative by Virginia standards. It comes down to a question of reasonable solutions. The University can suck up the cuts from the state, fire professors and staff, cut classes and quit building things until the politicians see the light, or they can find another option.
Personally, I'll go with door number two.
This tuition increase is gauze on the stab wounds inflicted by Warner's cuts. The University is simply trying to stabilize the situation. Out-of-state folks currently pay close to four-to-one what in-state students pay. The Board would like to close the gap to three-to-one, but it will take time. In the interim, complaints about Virginia-bias will be dismissed as naive by the administration. They don't want to stick it to the kids from North Dakota any more than they want to shut down the school until the legislature gives us the financial assistance we believe we deserve. The mid-year tuition increase is a middle ground, and nobody is ever 100 percent happy with settling for the middle ground.
Although many students have trouble believing that a tuition increase is going to help much, it does have a trickle-down effect. Rather than slamming the administration for the new cost burden, Virginians should write their state legislator and tell them where their priorities should be. They should remind their delegates what happens when smart students don't see the University as the deal it used to be and head to New England for their education. This academic flight -- commonly called the "brain drain" -- hurts the economy in the long run. They should call their state senator and let them know that the diversity of their education demands that Virginians not be priced out of an education by these tuition increases.
Remember where the priorities are, and who is making the tough decisions. When you do, you'll find that a mid-year tuition increase is a heck of a lot better than many of the alternatives out there.
(Preston Lloyd's column appears Thursdays in
The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at plloyd@
cavalierdaily.com.)
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