THIS FALL, University students have the opportunity to save the University.
Indeed, the current budget crunch has made it clear that radical reform is necessary if the University is to retain its position as a leading national institution. Because of this, it is vital for all students to pressure their political representatives to support the Chartered Universities Initiative, and provide the University with a solid financial future.
If no action is taken, the University will retain the same unsustainable relationship that it currently holds with the state government. This relationship has been characterized by painful budget cuts and counterproductive regulations.
Indeed, while the state government has been decreasing its financial support for the University over the past 15 years, it has drastically reduced is level of support since the 2003 budget crunch. This trend was shown by a recent U.Va Budget Office report, which stated that that the percentage of the University's budget coming from state expenditures has dropped from 35 percent in 1988,to just under 25 percent in 1999, to less than 15 percent today.
The result of this decreasing financial support is that the University is no longer being funded at a rate that will allow it to retain its status as a leading public university. Indeed, as Alex Stolar, chair of Student Council's Legislative Affairs Committee, stated in an interview, "We were under-funded by $39.3 million in this year alone."
The funding shortfall is even more startling when the University is compared with competing public institutions. Indeed, as the University of Illinois' Center for the Study of Education Policy states, the University's funding per in-state student was $14,917 in 2003, while the University of California and the University of North Carolina funding per in-state student were $26,004 and $26,340, respectively.
Ultimately, this funding shortfall threatens to degrade the University's academic reputation by forcing it to increase class sizes and lose competitiveness in faculty hiring. These actions would negatively affect students, by devaluing a diploma from the University and hurting their prospects in the job market or in graduate school admissions.
The charter school plan would address this problem by giving the University a wider degree of control over its tuition rates and day-to-day activities. Under this plan the University would be able to close its $40 million funding shortfall by raising tuition at a rate of 8 to 10 percent per year over the next five years. Although any tuition increase is regrettable, it is important to remember that this is the only way the University can realistically close its funding shortfall, considering that the state government will not increase the University's budget when it has already been forced to cut programs and raise taxes in the past few years.
While certain people have raised very important questions about the effect that a tuition increase will have on educational affordability, this concern has been addressed by a new financial aid program.
This program, called Access U.Va., promises to guarantee that all students have 100 percent of their financial need met by the University. Moreover, Access U.Va. claims to ensure that no student who comes from a family with an income level of 150 percent of the poverty line or less will graduate with debt, and that no student of any income background will graduate with debt greater than the cost of one year of in-state tuition. Because of this, if Access U.Va. delivers on its promises, the charter school plan will actually lead the University of to become more affordable for the average family. Indeed as Alex Stolar stated, "We know that with or without charter tuition rates will rise. However, because of Access U.Va., students will be more able to afford U.Va. than ever before and graduate with less debt."
With all of this in mind, the charter school plan, in its promised form, offers the University the only chance to close the $40 million funding gap without making the University less affordable to the average family. Because of this, students must make be vigilant in holding both the state legislature and the administration accountable to the promises it has made in connection with the charter school plan and Access U.Va.
Holding these two institutions accountable for their promises will be a vital step towards ensuring that the University closes its funding gap without becoming unaffordable to the average family.
Adam Keith is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.
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