THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 30, 1995 TAG: 9510260040
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
The University of Virginia has been a leader in state-sponsored higher education for so long that it helped invent the idea. But now U.Va. finds itself forced to take the lead in a less positive direction - raising more and more of the revenues it needs to operate from nonstate sources.
The university announced earlier this month an unprecedented fund-raising effort - The Campaign for the University of Virginia. By June of 2000, it aims to raise $750 million. The so-called quiet phase of the campaign actually kicked off two years ago and has already produced $350 million.
The money will be used to increase the endowment and fund the entire range of campus activities: endowed professorships, research, curriculum enhancements, graduate fellowships, undergraduate scholarships, athletics, new buildings for libraries, the arts, the Darden School, computer science, architecture and nursing.
The campaign is, in part, a response by President John Casteen and other university leaders to changing times. State support for state schools has been in steady decline. Rather than hope the trend would reverse or ignore the problem, Casteen and his colleagues have decided the university must act to secure its own future.
The numbers are stark. The level of support provided by general-fund revenues for colleges and universities places Virginia 42nd among the 50 states, down from 22nd as recently as 1986. Neighboring North Carolina is ninth. In actual dollars per student, Virginia now falls 20 percent short of the national average.
A decade ago, state funds accounted for 33 percent of the cost of undergraduate education at U.Va. Today, the state share is down to 21 percent. When graduate and professional schools are included, the fraction shrinks even further. Just 13 percent of total U.Va. revenues for 1995-96 come from the state.
That means that 87 percent of the money needed to operate U.Va. must come from sources other than the state of Virginia. These include gifts and endowment income and tuition, whose rising cost threatens to price many less affluent students out of a U.Va. education. Between 1986 and 1994, tuition and fees increased 117 percent.
As the state's flagship school with a grand history, dedicated alumni, a world reputation for excellence and undeniable marquee value, U.Va. faces a less daunting task in trying to raise funds than smaller, younger, less prestigious state schools. But they too meet a need and face the same state-budget squeeze.
The university deserves credit for reading the writing on the wall and moving boldly to achieve greater financial security by the 21st century. Virginians who value the state's noble tradition of publicly supported higher education will want to lend a hand.
But the state's other colleges and universities need help too. The business leaders of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council have challenged those seeking election in November to provide more needed support. A majority has pledged to do so. They must follow through to reverse a trend that is turning Virginia into a follower instead of the leader it has always been. by CNB