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

DATE: SUNDAY, September 18, 1994                   TAG: 9409200057
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

COLLEGES PREPARE FOR CUTS

Allen sent letters to the schools last week asking them to draft analyses by mid-October showing how they would deal with cuts of 2 percent, 4 percent or 6 percent.

The request for plans does not mean the cuts will be made. But college officials - knowing Allen's need for money to fund his plan to abolish parole - are worried.

University officials said the cuts would be difficult to manage because colleges no longer can raise tuition to make up the difference.

``For us, 2 percent is something more than $900,000; 6 percent is over $2.7 million,'' said James V. Koch, president of Old Dominion University.

``These reductions, in addition to what we already face, are close to being crushing,'' he said. ``And we hope they don't come to pass.''

ODU already faces a cut that Koch has said could amount to $5 million in the 1994-95 school year. He has warned that it could lead to layoffs and closings of academic departments.

``It's the issue that we have been looking at a lot since 1990: what the state really intends to accomplish with its investment in its colleges,'' said John T. Casteen III, president of the University of Virginia. ``Sooner or later, Virginia's capacity to provide first-rate education and economic development ... has to be put into this equation.''

Virginia now ranks 43rd in the nation in state funding per college student, according to an estimate by the State Council of Higher Education.

Neither Education Secretary Beverly Sgro nor Allen's press secretary could be reached for comment.

The General Assembly approved an annual 3-percent cap on tuition and fees, which will be in effect through the current school year.

The requests for reduction plans have come almost annually since the recession hit in 1990. The requests usually have been followed by actual cuts, Koch said, but this time there's a difference.

``It isn't a case that the state isn't collecting'' revenues now, Koch said. ``It's a matter of spending priorities.''