Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 30, 1993 TAG: 9403170016
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray L. Garland
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
This is hardly a new story. Almost a year ago, the State Council of Higher Education warned that a crisis was coming unless colleges changed their ways. Among its recommendations were keeping students out who are not prepared to do college-level work; dropping those who dawdle; extending the academic year; and requiring faculty to teach more. For its pains, the council, which functions largely as an advisory agency, was berated by college presidents and Wilder's secretary of education.
To hear the public colleges tell it, state budget cuts have been absolutely devastating. But the newspapers show they actually have more money to spend. This has come, of course, from enrolling more students and charging them much higher prices; also from more generous private and corporate donors.
For some strange reason, many people believe that education, like health care, should be free, or largely so. And not many years ago, tuition at state colleges was absurdly cheap. Even today, it does not seem outrageously high. At the beginning of 1992, full-time students at community colleges paid only $1,050 in tuition and required fees. At senior colleges, the figure ranged from a low of $2,300 at Clinch Valley College to $4,325 at Virginia Military Institute. Out-of-state students paid almost three times as much, or something close to the actual cost of instruction.
If they paid full boat, in-state students still paid considerably less than half the cost of instruction, making no allowance for the state's large investment in physical plant. In 1992, the state appropriation per full-time student ranged from a low of $2,477 at the community colleges to $7,759 at William & Mary. For all institutions, the average taxpayer stipend was $3,778. In fairness, this was near the bottom among the 50 states.
There are several observations to be drawn. For some time, the cost of higher education has risen much faster than inflation. Clearly, that can't continue indefinitely. But certain outlays still don't appear unreasonable. Looking at the community college system, with 33 campuses and 72,000 full-time equivalent students, we find total costs coming in below the average, per-student cost in the public schools.
The rapid increase in college costs has spawned a vast industry of loans and grants, some of it tainted by scams. Many students complain of graduating with poor prospects of decent employment, staggering under a mountain of debt. We might measure this in a recent report from the Student Loan Marketing Association, better known as Sallie Mae, a federally chartered enterprise that packages student loans guaranteed by the government to sell in the open market. This doesn't tell the whole story of student debt by any means, but Sallie Mae had $2 billion in loans on the books in 1978 and now has $15 billion. It projects $23 billion by 1998.
But the colleges seem intent upon preserving the old ways of short days and long vacations that have enriched their communities. In the case of 20 Northeastern schools charged by the Justice Department with price-fixing, it was revealed that for 33 years the schools had met each April to compare notes and make certain that the net tuition price would be the same regardless of which school a student decided to attend.
It is passing strange that the two sectors of the American economy dominated by government control and funding - health and higher education - seldom advertise on the basis of price. It would be refreshing to see just one school cut through the mumbo-jumbo and proclaim "We can do it better for less!" Of course, to do so would risk accreditation. When challenged, the brethren can be ferocious.
Understandably, the schools have not taken this criticism lying down. One professor at Virginia Tech wrote the Roanoke Times & World-News detailing his work schedule, which he expressed as encompassing at least 70 hours a week, 11 months a year.
The Virginian-Pilot told a different story, at least relating to class hours, admittedly the smaller part of any decent professor's work. It found the average course-load for full-time faculty in 1993 ranging from 1.94 courses at the University of Virginia to 4.59 courses at a typical community college. The bottom line would seem to be that full-time faculty at the state's senior institutions are meeting class between six and nine hours a week during an academic year of some 30 weeks.
It's hard to make comparisons between schools as different as the University of Virginia and Eastern Shore Community College, but an increase of 25 percent in overall faculty course load at senior colleges would not seem unreasonable.
Another bone of contention is use of existing space. The evidence suggests that most schools are holding class mainly in the morning hours, Monday through Friday, and not much beyond. The state council has warned laggards that those not using classrooms at least 40 hours a week cannot expect funding for additional classroom construction. But the real revolution will come when colleges are forced to operate on a three-semester year, encouraging students to complete their undergraduate education in one-fourth less time.
Still, there's no way a bunch of journalists or even state legislators can get to the bottom of this large issue and say with certainty what's right and what's wrong. The next governor should employ a nationally recognized consulting firm to make a complete, independent survey of the existing use of both college staff and facilities and report by Dec. 1, 1994.
Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
by CNB