THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 29, 1995 TAG: 9507280020
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
The facts are, one might say, old mortarboard. As Virginians should be well-aware, punitive treatment of the commonwealth's higher-education system began in 1990 under then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat, and has continued under his successor, George Allen, a Republican. What was once one of the country's most respected state systems is now known for the decline in state per-pupil support to among the lowest in the nation and the rise in in-state tuition to virtually the highest.
Unaddressed, this imbalance threatens both to place the commonwealth's colleges beyond financial reach for thousands of Virginians and to limit the scope and quality of the education available to those who can attend.
College officials have protested. Former governors have warned of the consequences. Now the Virginia Business Higher Education Council wants balance restored. The group's Virginia First initiative seeks to add $200 million annually in new money to the 1996-88 state budget to stop what many worry is a trend toward mediocrity.
``We expect to do everything to keep the Virginia First program on the political agenda now through the fall and beyond,'' said John T. Hazel Jr., council chairman and a Northern Virginia Republican. ``It's kind of a veto criteria for me: If a candidate is not supporting higher education, I'm not interested in that candidate.''
The quarter-century (1966-90) of state investment in higher education has paid off in greater national prominence for flagship universities like Virginia and Virginia Tech and spectacular development of major urban universities such as Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason and Old Dominion.
These and the other colleges have become more vital partners in economic development and, complemented by a strong system of private institutions, help persuade businesses that Virginia is a good state to locate in.
Noting the large Allen-pushed outlays for prisons, Hazel said ``the negativisms of corrections'' must give way to higher education. ``The priorities have to be reconsidered. There's been a financial withdrawal of state funds for higher education. We're a system that's suffering.''
The pain extends to Virginians individually and the state as a whole. It is hard to imagine a more positive or crucial way to invest taxpayers' money than in opening wider the doors of academe. The Virginia First initiative is welcome; indeed it is overdue. It must succeed. by CNB