Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 12, 1993 TAG: 9309120335
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Virginia ranks 8th among the states in the tuition and fees charged at its major state-supported colleges and universities.
Over the past decade, the costs have more than doubled. They've gone up 44 percent just since 1990. That's a rate even faster than cost increases for health care.
And what are students getting for all that money?
At four-year schools the answer includes exotic courses, novel programs, big-name professors and cushy services, all piled on in a bid to bolster rankings and to woo students.
Money also supports bloated staffs and departments that offer degrees few students pursue.
University leaders blame the high cost of college attendance on deep cuts in state aid to higher education. Virginia's per-student appropriation of $3,232 in 1992-93 was smaller than in 42 states, including Alabama and Arkansas.
At community colleges around the state, one-third of the state's students already compete for places in overcrowded classrooms taught by overloaded teachers. Predictions are for even larger enrollments over the next decade at all schools, but community colleges will be especially pressed to absorb older adults and students priced out of four-year colleges.
Since 1989, $413 million has been squeezed out of college budgets, a shrinkage of about 20 percent. State officials are now warning that over the next two years the schools may have to hack another 10 percent to 15 percent to help Virginia make ends meet without raising taxes.
Gov. Douglas Wilder insists that colleges don't need more taxpayer dollars. "Money alone won't solve the system problem of [low] teaching course loads, of spending, of keeping costs down. We have to question not how much we spend but what we spend it for."
Over the summer, reporters from the state's four largest newspapers working together with The Associated Press talked with administrators, legislators, professors and students and combed financial documents for an unprecedented look at why college is so expensive.
Among the findings of that investigation:
Would-be students around Virginia forced by high costs to defer their dreams of college or to compromise them.
A confusing system of finding and applying for financial aid.
Waste in the form of top-heavy administrations, duplicated and sparsely used programs, professors who seldom teach and smorgasbords of student services.
Public colleges increasingly spending money and administrative time raising private money, and not always for professorships, scholarships or academic buildings but celebrations, arenas and star speakers.
Virginia has built an internationally recognized higher education system. The University of Virginia and The College of William and Mary consistently are ranked among the best schools in the country, and other Virginia schools make "best buy" lists or other such popular rankings.
But unless the colleges and the state legislature together make changes, Virginia could wind up with a top-notch education system that only the rich can afford.
by CNB