THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 4, 1995 TAG: 9501040386
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Gov. George F. Allen, seeking a permanent halt to steep tuition hikes, wants to require colleges to keep annual increases no higher than the rate of inflation, which is now below 3 percent.
The proposal, outlined in a little-noticed section of his budget plan for next year, would take effect in the fall of 1996. It would be one of the toughest measures any state has taken to clamp down on college costs.
``Our first responsibility has to be to the parents and students of Virginia,'' said Ken Stroupe, Allen's press secretary. ``. . .We were creating a situation where students had to leave college because they couldn't afford it.''
Traditionally, Virginia's colleges have had the authority to decide their own rates. To help make up for a 20 percent cut in state aid since 1990, several approved annual increases above 10 percent in recent years.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate attending a state-supported four-year school this year is $3,789, excluding room and board. That puts Virginia among the 10 states with the highest tuition rates.
Facing growing public resistance to the steep rises, the General Assembly last year approved a 3 percent cap on yearly tuition increases for both 1994-95 and 1995-96. However, Stroupe said, Allen wanted a measure that would ``have lasting impact from one administration to the next.''
The proposal is likely to win strong support from parents and students. But it could put universities in a tighter squeeze.
Most local university budget officials said it was too early to assess the plan. ``The details of it are so sketchy, I don't know how to react,'' said David F. Harnage, acting vice president for administration and finance at Old Dominion University.
But William L. Brauer, vice president for administration and finance at Christopher Newport University, said: ``To tie the hands of universities like that is going to make it tough for us.
``To lock it in forever is a little drastic. I would hope the governor and the General Assembly take it a year at a time and look at all the institutions and their individual circumstances before making it permanent.''
Newport already faces a $700,000 cut in state aid next year because its restructuring plan was not approved by state Education Secretary Beverly Sgro.
National college officials say Allen's proposal reflects politicians' unwillingness to grapple with tough issues in higher education funding.
``We view this as a short-term and short-sighted response,'' said John Hammang, director of state relations at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. ``We have lost real dollars in providing for education, and the political response today tends to be: Let's control tuition. There's no commitment to maintaining education funding.''
Stroupe noted that Allen last year restored $23 million in college funding that his predecessor, L. Douglas Wilder, wanted to cut. But Allen's budget for 1995-96 would cut more than $40 million for higher education.
Hammang said Virginia might be the first state to force colleges to keep tuition increases under inflation.
But a growing number of states have been pressuring colleges to keep tuition down. Pennsylvania, he said, approved an incentive plan a couple of years ago: If colleges keep tuition increases under the rate of inflation, they get an additional 4 percent in state aid.
Allen's budget proposal includes four paragraphs on the tuition plan, laying the framework for a ``four-year tuition contract between students and the public senior institutions.''
The budget does not say what increase would be permissible, but Stroupe said it would be pegged to the annual inflation rate, fulfilling Allen's campaign pledge.
The U.S. Labor Department reported last month that the Consumer Price Index rose 2.7 percent since last November.
If approved by the General Assembly, the plan would begin with students entering school in the fall of 1996.
This is how it would work: Colleges could set any tuition rate they wanted for each incoming class of students. But in each succeeding year, they could not increase the tuition of that class by more than that year's rate of inflation.
The ceiling would apply only to tuition and not to other required fees, Stroupe said. Colleges could still set different rates for graduate students and for out-of-state students.
The budget proposal says that Sgro, in conjunction with the State Council of Higher Education and a panel of college administrators, will determine the specifics - including penalties for colleges that don't comply - by November.
``We ought to consider ways to keep our colleges competitive with those in the nation,'' Stroupe said. ``One way to do that is to keep tuition affordable.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Color photo
ALLEN'S PROPOSAL
In a little-noticed section of next year's budget plan, Gov.
George F. Allen proposed that colleges be required to hold annual
tuition increases to the inflation rate or below. Last year, the
General Assembly passed a 3 percent cap on tuition increases for
1994-95 and 1995-96. But Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe said the
governor wants a measure that would ``have lasting impact from one
administration to the next.''
by CNB