Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 1, 1992 TAG: 9203020205
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: E-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: L. LEON GEYER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Oh, Virginia, why are you in the bottom third of the states in per-student spending?
A tax is a tax. We are enduring selectively imposed taxes - faculty and staff, an inflation tax; students, a tuition tax. We need a long-range solution to higher-education funding, a state commitment, not just a tax on current students.
Oh, Virginia, why are you taxing your youth, your future?
Students are paying a tax on access. Larger class sizes hurt the weaker student, and make it harder for students to get classes they need - 4,400 were turned away from at least one Virginia Tech class this spring. A tax on the access to the university hurts economically disadvantaged students. Education - based on merit and performance - is the one great social equalizer in our country. Education is one of the pillars of economic and technological growth for our commonwealth and our country.
Oh, Virginia, where is your progressive nature and sense of fair play?
Why is a prisoner worth more than $20,000 a year when students are not? Education is an investment, not a cost. In addition to the improvement of individuals, education is a public good. As the average level of education has risen in this country, so has the overall standard of living.
It is only when education has been stunted, as has occurred over the past decade, that we now find ourselves anticipating a future where we are, on average, worse off than our parents when income is adjusted for inflation.
The continued increase in tuition will put Virginia Tech education out of the reach of many who should be here. Out-of-state tuition rates for all students is simply out-of-sight, unfair and unattractive.
Oh, Virginia, where is your commitment to national educational leadership?
Virginia Tech is a land-grant university founded by national money and funded to encourage the education of the sons and daughters of the educated, the uneducated, the common and the elite. Tech was funded to provide leadership in education, research, extension, and international development.
Oh, Virginia, where is your commitment to history? Your commitment to egalitarianism?
When we make it more difficult for out-of-state students to attend and spend, we reduce the diversity of our student body; we think parochially instead of globally.
Oh, Virginia, where is your leadership?
Maybe we all made a mistake last budget cut. Faculty taught and students got larger sections. Faculty and staff worked extra to get the same job done. Students supported a tuition increase. The university hired less, and we made it easy. The more that students and parents do in funding education, the less the state will do in the future.
In 1981-1982, Virginia students paid 30 percent of their instructional cost. In 1991-1992, the students will pay 47 percent of their instructional cost. Virginia, why the increase?
Oh, Virginia, it's habit-forming, isn't it?
Good faculty will leave and it will cost time and money to replace. Virginia, don't be penny-wise and dollar-foolish. President Bush said, "We must be the world's leader in education."
Oh, Virginia, will you be a leader in higher education?
In a recent article in The Washington Post, Tech student Matthew Stegura said, "Education isn't seen as an investment any more. [We students are] a burden on the state."
Oh, Virginia, why are students a burden?
L. Leon Geyer, a professor of agricultural law and economics, is president of the Virginia Tech Faculty Senate. This is excerpted from remarks at a recent Tech student rally on the budget issue.
by CNB