
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 27, 1993                   TAG: 9304270115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WILLIAMS TELLS STUDENTS HE'LL SLOW TUITION INCREASES

Earle Williams, a Republican running for governor, promised Monday to restrain state colleges' annual grab for higher tuition and fees by holding increases during the next four years to no more than the rate of inflation.

Williams told students at George Mason University in Fairfax that the rising cost of higher education is "one of the most disturbing and damaging legacies" of the last three state administrations, all headed by Democrats.

The average annual tuition and fees at state schools has more than tripled in 12 years, from $972 to $3,336, he added.

Williams said departing Gov. Douglas Wilder, in particular, has given the colleges free rein to increase fees to cover for cuts in state aid. "There was almost no real pressure on [the schools] to reform and cut costs," he asserted.

Williams said that as governor he would make college aid a high budget priority. Under the last Republican governor, John Dalton (1978-82), state support for colleges totaled 15.3 percent of all state spending; under Wilder the figure has dropped to 12 percent, he asserted.

"When I complain that Richmond has its priorities out of whack - this is what I'm talking about," Williams said. "Education is one of the essential services. It is one thing taxpayers are happy to see their money spent for, as long as the money is spent wisely."

Williams is considered an underdog in the three-way Republican gubernatorial contest and is working to catch former Rep. George Allen of Charlottesville, the apparent front-runner. He suggested Allen would be unable to exploit the college cost issue because as a state legislator in the 1980s, Allen voted for budget cuts that encouraged colleges to raise their charges.

The Allen campaign did not return a reporter's phone call Monday.

Williams blasted former Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, the presumed Democratic nominee, for defending state policies that allowed the colleges to raise their fees.

Tom King, Terry's campaign consultant, said she will respond to Williams' attack when the Republican indicates how much he would have raised taxes in the last 12 years to keep college costs down. During the Wilder administration, Terry preferred fee increases over tax increases to allow the colleges to increase fees to recoup about $300 million in budget cuts forced by the recession, he said.

Keywords:
POLITICS

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB