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

DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995                   TAG: 9509210035
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAMPAIGNS

THE $250 MILLION that Virginia Tech wants to raise in private money by the end of 1997 is for the right purposes. Ditto the University of Virginia's campaign to raise $700 million. Ditto, as a rule, the smaller drives for private support that are becoming a way of life at other Virginia state-owned institutions of higher education.

How unfortunate, then, that the fund-raising campaigns are not necessitated for entirely the right reasons. In part, the private money is needed because a pound-foolish state is defaulting on its own obligations to higher education.

At Tech, the money is for the soundest of purposes: academic quality. Half the $250 million is to go for current operations, research, and buildings and equipment. The rest will boost the permanent endowment - currently $189 million - to approximately $300 million. The biggest hunk is for need-based student scholarships; income from the new endowment funds also is to be used to attract and retain top faculty, and to otherwise support academic programs.

What could be more central to a university's mission, or contribute more to its value to the wider community, than good faculty, good students, books in the library, support for research?

The private sector apparently believes such objectives are worthwhile. When the Tech campaign went public last weekend, $150 million already had been raised in a three-year "quiet" phase among big donors. UVa, whose campaign will be officially launched Oct. 6, already has raised $300 million toward its $700 million goal.

Unfortunately, the commonwealth seems not to think so highly of its own institutions and the contribution they make to Virginia.

Since the late '80s, state support of higher education has declined precipitously. At UVa, state money now constitutes only about 12 percent of the budget. Overall, the state now stands only 43rd in the nation in tax dollars spent per student. For both in-state and out-of-state students, average tuition in the commonwealth ranks among the highest in the country for public colleges and universities.

The goal of private money at public universities should not be to rescue Virginia's universities from the subpar performance of state government. The goal, rather, should be to build on a satisfactory level of state support for the basics, to make the difference between academic adequacy and academic excellence. To the extent that the state fails to live up to its end of the deal, the public-private partnership is not all it could be.

Those who have given and will give money to support the academic missions of Virginia's colleges and universities recognize the value of higher education to society. Their gifts do not spare Virginia's governmental leaders from their obligations.

by CNB