ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601290037
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BOSTON
SOURCE: JON MARCUS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Knowledge may be getting cheaper. Tuition at some universities and colleges, including institutions in Virginia, is coming down or staying steady after increasing at more than double the rate of inflation for a decade.
Massachusetts public colleges cut tuition 5 percent to 10 percent on Wednesday, one day after North Country Community College, part of the State University of New York, lowered part-time tuition 12 percent.
Last week, North Carolina Wesleyan College said it would cut tuition 23 percent. And in November, Muskingum College in Ohio decided to reduce the cost of an education 29 percent.
Virginia's in-state tuition has been capped at the rate of inflation for two years. Gov. George Allen has offered the legislature two plans to control tuition costs: He has asked the colleges not to raise tuition next year, and to keep those raises to 3 percent the following year, said Steve Janosik, deputy secretary of education.
This fall, the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia endorsed the same limit, said spokesman Mike McDowell.
In addition, Allen has offered a proposal that would assure students that the tuition they pay freshman year will only rise at the rate of inflation during their ensuing three years in college.
Schools say they have dropped their prices in response to public anger over escalating costs, and to attract more students. Muskingum already is seeing what it described as a significant increase in applications.
``Education is becoming regarded more and more as a commodity,'' said the college's president, Samuel W. Speck Jr. ``Colleges and universities have been increasing tuition and fees faster than inflation and family income, and each time you do that you're pricing more people out of the market.''
For years, colleges have blamed tuition increases on the cost of giving scholarships to students who cannot afford an education. But whenever tuition went up, more students found themselves in need, and the additional revenue would go toward financial aid.
Colleges were like dogs chasing their tails.
``Like many parents in America, we just had to ask, `When is this going to stop?''' said Linda Stallone, vice president for development at North Carolina Wesleyan.
Tuition has climbed at double the rate of inflation for 10 years - including last fall, when prices rose an average of 6 percent. Tuition and fees - not including room and board - now average $2,860 at four-year public universities and $12,432 at four-year private colleges and universities, according to the College Board.
When Virginia Tech last spring discovered that $4 million of its $12 million shortfall was caused by a dramatic drop in higher-paying, out-of-state students, the board of visitors decided to control tuition costs. It voted to maintain the university's $7,207 in-state tuition and fee rate, and raise out-of-state tuition and fees only 3 percent - to $13,859.
Right now, Tech's seeing a rise in applications, although admissions director David Bousquet said the school's recruitment efforts and high-profile sports successes probably are helping the most.
Other schools are now planning their tuition for the fall; the question for administrators like Speck and Stallone is whether those colleges and universities will follow suit in lowering the cost of an education.
Among those that have started cutting prices is Pine Manor College in Massachusetts. Citing increased competition, it lowered tuition for in-state students 38 percent Thursday.
Some schools are instituting special discounts. Transfer students can get up to $6,000 off at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y. Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa., offers a 50 percent discount for students in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class.
Staff writer Allison Blake contributed information to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB