Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 26, 1994 TAG: 9404260126
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Virginia undergraduate students will pay $99 more in tuition next year for a total of $3,399; graduate students will pay $117 more for $4,005. Out-of-state undergraduates will see their cost of learning rise by $684 to $9,852; graduate students' tuition will rise $432 to $6,174
The 3 percent increase for in-state students is the lowest since 1974, but it equaled the maximum the General Assembly allowed. The 7.5 increase for out-of-state students also equaled the limit.
Although Gov. George Allen increased general fund appropriations for Tech for the next two years by more than $2 million over what former Gov. Douglas Wilder had proposed, Tech's appropriation still was cut by $7.4 million. That means the school has seen its funding cut by more than $30 million since 1990.
And Allen's tuition cap limited what Tech could charge students. Each of the past two years, the board has voted to raise tuition 7.7 percent.
Although the 3 percent raise for in-state students may be seen as a break of sorts, Scott Trexler, a senior finance student from Maryland and the board's student representative, echoed what some Tech officials have hinted at: that tuition increases for out-of-state students are pushing away those students, who are often perceived as the best and brightest.
With tuition rates as they are, in-state undergraduates pay 54 percent of the cost of their education, while out-of-state undergraduates pay 115 percent of the cost.
Students will also see fees rise next year. The board voted to increase the comprehensive fee by $40 and parking fees from $21 to $40.
Trexler said students may be able to accept the higher tuition, perceiving it more as the state's sticking it to Tech, but that the parking fee increase will raise their ire.
"If you think about it, it's not that much," he said, but students will look at it as being doubled. "I'm sure the students will see it that way."
Faculty and staff also will see their parking fee rise, from $42 to $50.
The fee increase comes after Tech repaved four parking lots over the past four years. As Executive Vice President Minnis Ridenour explained various budget figures, he said that students in the past had asked not be hit with the cost of improvements until they were completed.
"We're trying to do what the students have asked us to do," Ridenour said. "We now have it. Payday's here, I guess."
by CNB