Thursday, August 07, 2008
Editorial: No end soon to large tuition increases
Unless the state commits to its share of higher education, students will pay ever steeper prices.
From the RoundTable blog
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For the third year in a row, Virginia college students are facing tuition and fee increases of more than 7 percent on average. Given the state's bleak financial picture, that trend is likely to continue.
If there is any good news to be found in the State Council of Higher Education's annual tuition report, it is this: The increases, for the most part, are lower than schools projected in their long-range forecasts.
That fact, though, offers little consolation to Virginia Tech students who will pay 10.8 percent, or $801, more this year. The quickly rising prices, coupled with the state's inability to fund its share of higher education, bodes ill not only for today's students but for parents attempting now to figure out how much to save for their children's future educational needs.
Virginia has struggled for decades with the ideal that the state should fund at least 70 percent of the cost for higher education. It has especially struggled to remain constant to that principle in tight budget cycles.
It abandoned the 70-30 policy during a recession of the early 1990s, sending student costs soaring and requiring them to pick up 38 percent of the tab.
When the economy picked up, so did the state's commitment. In 2000, lawmakers again boosted support for the public system, briefly living up to the bargain. Then another downswing in the economy brought deeper cuts to higher ed. State financing still lags 5 percent behind its 2000-01 high. It could worsen during this down cycle.
Lawmakers tried to offset some costs by setting aside $17.5 million this year to be awarded to colleges and universities that limited increases to no more than 4 percent. Two-thirds of the public schools agreed, but they educate only 25 percent of the students, leaving three-quarters of undergraduates -- including community college students -- to pay substantially more in tuition and fees.
Arguably, Virginia could, and should, do better, but it isn't likely in today's economic climate. About the best students and parents can do is obtain the state-mandated tuition forecasts for their schools and plan accordingly.
