Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Editorial: Scaling back college dreams
Virginia's declining support leaves universities to look farther afield.
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
Virginia high school students can take the tough courses and make great grades, do well on their SATs, participate in extracurricular activities and volunteer work, show leadership and commitment to their schools and communities -- and still not get into one of the state's premier public universities.
A sad reality is that many lose their places to out-of-state students for the simple reason that the latter pay more to attend. Much more. And Virginia's higher education institutions need the money.
So, some of Virginia's finest young adults have to temper their college dreams, a dismaying result that creates a tempting target for legislative intervention. State lawmakers should resist. Unless, that is, when they convene in January they go to Richmond with glad tidings of a lot more state support -- a nonstarter.
Talk of lowering Virginia's cap on out-of-state admissions should be a nonstarter, too.
A story published Sunday noted that many top institutions of higher learning in Virginia and other states accepted a higher percentage of out-of-state students this year as the recession continues to erode state revenues. This merely extends a pre-recessionary trend.
Virginia cannot order a sharp reduction in the proportion of out-of-state students and expect more of its own sons and daughters to get the education some so covet. Fewer resources will dilute the quality for all.
If Virginians want more of the best educational slots for their children, Virginia taxpayers must take up a greater share of the cost -- not next year, given the state of the economy, or perhaps even the next. But soon.
