Responding to a letter from Virginia Del. David Albo, R-Fairfax, four University Board of Visitors members — in a letter of their own — recently expressed their opposition to Albo’s proposal to set a minimum quota for the number of in-state students admitted to the University.
“If we were to shift the balance of in-state/out-of-state students, we would run the risk of impeding our progress and dramatically reducing the quality and reputation of the University of Virginia,” stated the BOV’s response letter.
Albo’s letter was addressed to W. Heywood Fralin, the University’s rector of the board of visitors, Board of Visitors members Helen E. Dragas, Robert D. Hardie and Glynn D. Key, and five members of The College of William & Mary’s Board of Visitors. Gov. Timothy Kaine appointed all of the Board members this past spring, and they are now awaiting legislative approval of their appointments.
As a member of the committee responsible for reviewing appointments such as those of the board members, Albo said before he voted on the board members, he wanted to see whether they agreed with his views about in-state enrollment, how the schools can be run more efficiently, efficiencies the University will implement and their vision of the University’s future.
Albo said he recently sponsored a bill that would have required Virginia public colleges and universities to admit a minimum of 80 percent of in-state students. The House’s appropriations committee did not approve the bill, but discussion and debate about the potential ratio change has continued.
University spokesperson Carol Wood said the University’s current undergraduate out-of-state population has been about 30.7 percent of the student body and the in-state population 69.3 percent for the past decade.
Wood explained that if the University changed the number of in-state students from the current percentage to 70 percent, the revenue loss to the University would amount to $1.9 million after one year; if the in-state population were to change by 1 percent, the financial loss would be $2.8 million; and if the in-state population were to change to 80 percent, the revenue lost for the year would reach $30 million for the University.
The BOV members explained in the letter that the University’s out-of-state undergraduate students pay for more than 150 percent of the cost of their tuition, therefore subsidizing the cost of education for in-state students, as well as being responsible for 63 percent of the University’s undergraduate tuition revenue.
“The state’s contribution to the University’s budget has declined so much, not only in the last decade but in the last 20 years,” Wood said, noting that a decrease in revenue from out-of-state students would be very difficult for the University to financially support.
The BOV letter compared Virginia’s contribution of $156 million to the University to North Carolina’s contribution of $494 million to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“We understand in Virginia the predicament that legislatures face having to fund numerous priorities for the state of Virginia,” Wood said.
This understanding led to a new partnership with the state in 2005 called the Higher Education Restructuring Act, Wood added.
The letter explained that the act gave higher education institutions in Virginia the ability to manage their day-to-day operations and increased autonomy, in addition to allowing them to set tuition and oversee enrollment.
“In some way, the spirit of that agreement allows the University to manage its daily operations and be responsible for enrollment with oversight and a partnership with the state,” Wood said.
Along with the financial effects, Wood said students from out of the state, including students from around the country and around the world, “bring a richness to the academic experience” for the undergraduate population.
The BOV letter added, “It is important to maintain the current rations to complete the education process of students. Diversity has been greatly enhanced at the University and is widely accepted.”
Albo said, though, that he believes a change in the number of in-state students in Virginia’s universities is important because good students from Virginia are not getting into Virginia schools.
“I spoke to a student from my district with a 4.126 [grade point average] and very good SAT scores that didn’t get in U.Va., and I think that’s not right,” Albo said, adding that he had met with other students in his district that had high GPAs who did not get into the University or William & Mary. Increasing the mandatory in-state student quota would help alleviate this issue and provide in-state students with enhanced access to higher education opportunities within the commonwealth, Albo said.
The BOV letter to Albo ended with hopes of continuing the conversation between the two parties, explaining that there is often no easy answer to such problems, “but solutions can be found if we work together and collaborate on what is truly best for the Commonwealth, her citizens, and her colleges and universities.”
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