ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605130093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
GRADUATES IN THE AUDIENCE could relate, many of them starting out their lives burdened with school loans that surpass their starting salaries.
Twenty years ago, when John Wilson still served as Virginia Tech's chief academic officer, nobody questioned the value of spending tax money on college degrees.
The state, which now pays less than half of a Virginia student's costs, paid 70 percent.
While this reflected the value of a degree to the individual student, it also showed "the larger society would also be served by an annual infusion of bright students who would ultimately take up leadership roles in their communities and in business and industry," Wilson said.
"This was taken to be self-evident," said the retired president of Washington and Lee University.
He spoke Saturday to a Lane Stadium packed with friends, families and students assembled for Virginia Tech's 124th commencement exercises.
Wilson did not simply chide state policy-makers, hamstrung by economic recession. He wondered how society as a whole could so easily accept the heavy borrowing that means many students graduate and begin their work lives with major debt. Consider his acquaintance, a young man leaving school with a debt twice his starting salary.
"Debt of this kind is deeply enervating," Wilson said. "It virtually rules out home ownership for many years and frustrates the desire to marry and have children. It is a backbreaker on top of all the normal expenses of early adulthood, and we should do everything in our power to reverse the trend that has produced it."
The General Assembly, which this year infused $200 million into the state's colleges and universities, offered a ray of hope this session, Wilson said. Schools also froze tuition.
In the audience, graduates could relate to Wilson's message.
Amanda Griffin of Franklin completed her undergraduate career owing $4,000. In August, she returns to Blacksburg for graduate school and expects to take on about $6,000 a year more in debt.
"It's worth it," she said after commencement, figuring she'll be in debt for a long time, but also qualified both to be a better teacher and gain a better teaching job.
Standing in bright sunshine after receiving his history degree, The-Khai Luu didn't miss a beat.
"Eighteen thousand dollars," he said. That's what he owes. His parents? Another $14,000.
But Luu, whose parents left Vietnam in 1975, heads for Army boot camp today with no regrets. By enlisting in the Army Reserves, he can defer loans and get repaid for much of his debt, he said. His parents, who hold a host of degrees earned after settling in Michigan, were circumspect.
"Education is the key," said Luu's mother, Northern Virginia secondary school teacher T. Hanh Phung.
"Human investment," said her attorney-husband, N. Dat Luu, who also holds a doctoral degree.
As Roanoke's Keisha Harrington hurried through the crush of excited parents with cameras and admiring little brothers and sisters, she stopped for a minute to reflect on her own college debt.
"It's a tremendous amount," said Harrington, who went through college on scholarships but still owes $5,000 for living costs.
"That's not much compared to others," she said.
The political science and English major also graduates with a cherished plum: A job. She'll teach in Roanoke secondary schools next year. Starting pay: $27,000.
So Harrington, upbeat on graduation day, accepts debt as part of the price of earning a college degree. The alternative?
"Either not come back to school, or pay money the rest of my life. I'm one of the blessed ones," she said.
In all, 4,388 graduate and undergraduate degrees were handed out at the decidedly festive commencement activities. Maroon and orange banners flapped in the fierce breeze that blew over parts of two sound boards used to deflect the on-stage orchestra's music back toward the stadium audience. Six physical plant workers hustled out to hold them steady until the academic pomp and circumstance ended.
The university conferred its University Distinguished Achievement award on the chief of cardiology at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Sidney C. Smith Jr. Smith graduated in chemical engineering from Virginia Tech in 1963.
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. 1. Trey Tanner's mortarboard was inby CNBfull bloom with marigold and dianthus during Virginia Tech's 124th
Commencement held Saturday at Lane Stadium. color. 2. With one panel
already blown over, a University Wind Symphony member looks on with
concern as Tech's ground crew keeps the sound deflector panels from
being blown down.