Monday, February 16, 2009
Editorial: College admissions get political
Virginia's House wants to mandate more slots for in-state students at public colleges. Pols should keep their hands off.
From the RoundTable blog
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Virginia delegates seem determined to make mischief for the commonwealth's colleges and universities by pressing for some kind of admissions quota to increase the percentage of in-state students.
Lawmakers should leave the issue alone.
In the last couple of years, the universities have lost millions of dollars' worth of state funding that was inadequate to begin with. College officials are in a far better position than politicians to set admissions policies that will keep their institutions healthy.
Some lawmakers, undoubtedly prodded by complaints from disappointed constituents, are convinced that too many coveted slots at the state's top colleges go to out-of-state students. But these students enrich the institutions in more ways than one.
They bring a geographic diversity that broadens students' intellectual horizons and raises the national profiles of Virginia's higher education institutions, adding to their prestige.
And the students bring money. Lots of it, making college a lot more affordable for Virginia students.
The University of Virginia, for example, charged entering out-of-state students $29,790 for tuition and fees this year, as opposed to $9,490 for in-state students.
Heywood Fralin, rector of UVa's board of visitors, advised Del. David Albo in a recent letter that out-of-state students account for 63 percent of undergraduate tuition revenue. Yet this year only 31 percent of the student body is from out of state.
Earlier, the Springfield Republican had sent letters to UVa board members in which he demanded to know -- as a member of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, which confirms gubernatorial appointments to the board -- how they could increase in-state enrollment and how the university could be run "more efficiently."
That is newspeak for doing more with less, and the universities have been grappling with it for years. Legislative interference in the composition of their student bodies would make it all the more difficult, almost certainly causing in-state tuitions to rise.
Albo's proposal for an 80 percent in-state student quota didn't make it out of a House committee this year, nor did alternative bills with 70 and 75 percent mandates. But the House budget plan would require institutions with more than 30 percent of their undergraduate classes coming from out of state to reserve at least 70 percent of future enrollment growth for Virginia students.
Virginia students comprise 69.3 percent of UVa's student body this year. UVa officials say raising the ratio to 70 percent would cost the university $1.9 million a year.
Out-of-state competition is not the only way Virginians can be denied access to a top education. Higher tuitions can put it out of reach. Lower revenue can erode the quality that is the very prize students seek.
Lawmakers should back off trying to write college admissions policies into the state budget -- unless they have a whole lot more money to spend.
