Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 7, 1990 TAG: 9007070176
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B5 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Nationally, education officials project tuition increases of between 6 percent and 8 percent for the 1990-91 school year. In Virginia, the increases should be between 4 percent and 6 percent, a report presented Friday to the State Council of Higher Education said.
Members of the council and the General Assembly and the governor have said they are concerned rising costs could be changing the composition of student bodies across the state.
Although demand for admission to state schools continues to be high, "we don't know if we're cutting off some low- and middle-income students," said Peter Blake, the council's finance coordinator. The council hopes to answer that question in a study that should be concluded this fall.
Virginia students attending a four-year public college or university can expect to pay as little as $4,956 at Clinch Valley College in Wise to as much as $7,180 at George Mason University in Fairfax, according to the report.
That will cover tuition, required fees, and room and board.
Next highest for in-state students are The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg at $7,142 and Virginia Military Institute in Lexington at $7,070. The next lowest are Norfolk State University in Norfolk at $5,380, and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg at $5,527.
In-state students will pay $1,970 for tuition and fees at Christopher Newport College in Newport News, which does not offer campus housing. Out-of-state students there pay $4,420.
Two state universities - Old Dominion University in Norfolk and Virginia State University in Petersburg - held the increases in-state students must pay to under 2 percent.
Belt-tightening at Virginia schools was in part the result of concern that higher education might be priced beyond the reach of too many Virginians, the report said.
Gov. Douglas Wilder earlier this year appealed to state colleges and universities to curb rising costs. The General Assembly responded by approving a 6.5 percent tuition cap for in-state students at four-year colleges and a 7.5 percent limit for the state's community colleges.
The relatively small increases also stem from a state policy that calls for out-of-state students at Virginia's public universities to pay at least three times more tuition than residents.
All of Virginia's public colleges have moved rapidly in recent years to comply with that policy. A result has been quickly escalating prices for out-of-state students.
In the past five years, tuition and fees charged out-of-state students have risen 90 percent at Norfolk State University, 82 percent at Radford University and 78 percent at George Mason.
Despite cost-cutting measures, Virginia state school costs are still well above those of the 15-state Southern Regional Education Board consortium, Blake said.
Another recent report placed state college costs among the top 10 state systems in the nation when ranked by cost, he said.
The state has always asked its students to bear a more significant share of the cost of their education than students in other states, said council Director Gordon Davies.
The most expensive state schools for out-of-state students are William and Mary at $12,992 for tuition, room and board, and required fees; VMI at $11,990, and the University of Virginia at $11,283.
The least expensive are Clinch Valley at $6,616 and Norfolk State at $7,810.
by CNB