ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 4, 1997 TAG: 9701060020
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN S. EDWARDS
VIRGINIA MUST begin to roll back average tuition charges for our in-state students to make our public colleges more affordable and to remain competitive with our neighboring states. The opportunity is present this year to start this process, given the expected budget surplus and savings from the "restructuring" program in our higher-education institutions.
Currently, Virginia's state-supported colleges and universities charge among the highest average tuition in the country. In 1995, Virginia had the second-highest average tuition while North Carolina had among the lowest average tuition (45th) for its state-supported colleges. At the same time, Virginia ranked 44th among the states in per-student support for higher education, down from 28th in 1990; North Carolina ranked eighth.
Recognizing the critical need to reinvest in higher education, the 1996 General Assembly appropriated $400 million in new money and froze tuition for two years. Still, tuition remains abnormally high compared with other states, and with Virginia's own history.
Recent large tuition increases correspond with the precipitous decline in state support for higher education triggered by the recession of the early 1990s. Prior to this time the commonwealth had traditionally provided 70 percent of higher education's cost while tuition accounted for 30 percent. The traditional 70/30 sharing arrangement was breached, meaning that by 1995 the state provided about 50 percent of the higher education costs. In dollars, the state's support decreased from $3,900 per student in 1990 to $3,500 per student in 1995.
As a result of the erosion in the commonwealth's share of the costs, average tuition (excluding room, board and books) for four-year colleges was forced to rise from $2,541 in 1990 to $4,002 in 1995 for in-state students. This is an increase of 57 percent! It is also two-and-a-half times the tuition charged by North Carolina ($1,622 on average) for state residents. For our community colleges, average tuition has risen 79 percent, from $798 in 1990 to $1,429 in 1996.
For the first time in a number of years, the opportunity exists to begin rolling back average tuition. A 10 percent rollback would require $45 million in general-fund revenue to make up the loss in tuition income to the institutions. But additional resources of $265 million are projected. Even with $150 million of this already committed to other programs, there is $115 million available.
By reducing average tuition 10 percent a year in each of the next four years, we could restore tuition nearly to the 1990 levels and become more competitive with neighboring states like North Carolina. This rollback for Virginia residents would apply at all levels of higher education in every state-supported institution.
High tuition is an impediment to student ambitions and opportunities. It is also a disincentive for children and their parents even to apply to college. Educators report that many students in middle-school grades lose interest in striving to attend college because they believe college is too expensive for them.
High tuition also makes Virginia less attractive to business. The relatively low tuition in North Carolina is a competitive advantage that state has over Virginia.
Rolling back tuition charges also would enable existing scholarship monies to go further, and it would complement the state's new prepaid-tuition program.
Finally, a rollback in tuition would ease the strain on students who need loans to pay for their higher education. In recent years, students have had to mortgage their futures in obtaining larger student loans. When they graduate they are saddled with heavy debt, which may take years to pay off.
President Clinton signaled the need to make higher education more affordable by proposing a tax credit of $1,500 or tax deduction of $10,000 for tuition payments. Rolling back average tuition for in-state students moves us even further along the road to making higher education more affordable and more accessible for state students.
This should be as high a priority in Virginia as increasing overall investment in higher education. Accordingly, I will introduce legislation at the General Assembly's 1997 session to reduce average tuition 10 percent per year over four years and restore the commonwealth's traditional share of the cost of higher education.
John S. Edwards of Roanoke represents the 21st district in the Virginia Senate.
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