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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 3, 1995                   TAG: 9501070068
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEGRADATION

"ELEGANT degradation" is an engineering term to describe what happens to machines subject to constant, repetitive stress. They look fine on the outside, but in fact are weakening steadily until finally, no longer able to withstand the stress, they break down.

That, says former Gov. Gerald Baliles, is what's happening to Virginia's colleges and universities.

Students and their families, he noted in a commencement speech last month at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, are paying more. The colleges are working hard to restructure and become more efficient. But the state is walking away from its share of the responsibility.

Baliles' numbers are grim:

nSixteen years ago, the state appropriated $12 per $1,000 of personal income to higher education. This year, the state appropriated $7 per $1,000 of personal income, a drop of 42 percent.

nSince 1990, state per-student funding of higher education has dropped by one-third.

nSix years ago, Virginia ranked 28th in the nation in per-student funding of its colleges and universities. Today, Virginia ranks 43rd, and could easily slip behind Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The relationship between higher education and a state's or nation's welfare is close and amply documented. Places with educated work forces, where continuous learning and creative thought are prized, where research produces better products and processes, tend to thrive.

Virginia is fortunate to have inherited, through the efforts of past generations, an excellent system of higher education. But the system can't remain competitive as simply a source for short-term budget savings.

Baliles' warning ought not to be ignored. If colleges and universities are allowed eventually to collapse from "elegant degradation," the commonwealth will collapse with them.

by CNB