THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509210410
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
The state looks ready to make college students a dollars-and-cents promise: Starting next fall, they won't face tuition increases higher than the rate of inflation while they're in school.
The plan, the brainchild of Gov. George F. Allen, was endorsed Thursday by the State Council of Higher Education. It still must win the approval of the General Assembly, which, like Allen, has expressed concern about rising college costs.
It is one of the toughest plans in any state to keep down tuition and fees, but state officials say it gives the colleges some leeway: It would allow schools to set virtually any rate they wanted for freshman classes, but they would then be required to limit subsequent increases for those students to the inflation rate.
The proposal represents a dramatic change in Virginia's approach to college costs.
Under Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the state cut aid to colleges by more than 20 percent - but permitted colleges double-digit annual tuition increases to make up the difference. Tuition rose more than 40 percent, putting Virginia among the 10 states with the most expensive costs.
Allen and the General Assembly approved a 3 percent cap on increases for both the 1994-95 and current school years. But administration officials say the guarantee would make tuition ceilings a permanent state policy. ``There's a real desire to ensure the accessibility of higher education,'' state Education Beverly Sgro told the council.
Torrance Massenburg, a junior at Old Dominion University, where tuition and fees total $3,990 a year, said: ``We'll probably get a lot more people coming to the state universities because they won't have to worry about tuition flying up every year.''
Massenburg, who said he pays his own way, added: ``If inflation stays low, I'll be able to save more money.'' The U.S. Labor Department reported last week that inflation was rising at an annual rate of 2.8 percent.
College officials have worried that locking the rate of tuition increases would leave them with no source of money if the state keeps slashing their funding. But the state's top budget officer, Robert W. Lauterberg, said Wednesday that there would be ``significant increases for education'' in Allen's budget proposal for next year.
During the last legislative session, Allen tried to cut more than $40 million in college funding but was beaten back by the General Assembly. In a speech in Falls Church last week, Allen also promised funding increases for education next year but did not offer a figure.
A coalition of state business leaders recently began a campaign, dubbed ``Virginia First,'' to win approval of an additional $200 million in college funding in each of the next two years.
The tuition plan would take effect at all state-supported four-year schools next year, said Lauterberg, director of the state Department of Planning and Budget. It is designed for undergraduates, he said, but colleges also could include graduate students.
The plan would create a rolling schedule of fees. This is how it would work:
In the 1996-97 school year, each college will have one tuition rate for its students. Returning students in 1997-98 would face increases no greater than the rate of inflation, but freshmen may be subject to a higher initial rate.
In the next decade, the universities could end up with four rates, for each class. There would be no ceiling on the initial rate for freshmen, but as the students went through school, the annual increases would be limited to the inflation rate. If students stayed in school more than four years, their tuition rates in their fifth year would be elevated to the levels for incoming freshmen.
Lauterberg said the plan would give colleges flexibility in setting rates. But in a report issued by the education council, most colleges worried about the administrative headaches. And about half, including ODU and Norfolk State University, feared they wouldn't be able to start the plan next fall.
Lauterberg dismissed their concerns, saying they wouldn't have to begin devising differential tuition rates until the 1997-98 school year.
KEYWORDS: TUITION COLLEGE UNIVERSITY VIRGINIA by CNB