THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 8, 1997 TAG: 9702080012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 49 lines
Old Dominion University is poised to make much-deserved financial gains in the current session of the General Assembly.
``This is one of our best legislative sessions ever,'' said ODU President James Koch this week.
We urge legislators to stay the course and appropriate funds as generously as possible to ODU. This university plays a pivotal role in the economic prosperity of Hampton Roads by producing highly trained students and attracting high-tech ventures to the region.
Both houses of the legislature have approved funding for much of ODU's 1997 wish list, including monies to bring the university closer to other Virginia doctoral institutions in per-student support. The average funding for each full-time student at a state-supported doctoral institution in Virginia is $5,786. Due to chronic underfunding over many years, ODU receives only $4,694 for each of its full-time students. That must be rectified.
While ODU officials estimate that it would take an additional $12.4 million to fund the school at the state's per-student average, legislators have inched toward that goal by voting a $1.8 million increase for ODU in the House of Delegates. The Senate has also voted to nudge ODU closer to other Virginia schools by allocating $618,220 more.
Obviously there will be compromises over final dollar amounts, but, fortunately, a trend toward funding ODU fairly has been set by both houses. It's a trend that should be continued in future years until parity is achieved.
It is particularly important that dollars be appropriated to continue developing commercial applications of the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center in Suffolk. The House of Delegates was considerably more enthusiastic in its financial support of this high-tech program, earmarking $725,000 for it. The Senate voted VMASC just $250,000. This is an important research center for Hampton Roads. We hope that when the budget is finalized, the amount of money dedicated to VMASC will be closer to the higher figure approved by the House of Delegates.
It also appears that both houses of the legislature will agree to grant ODU enough funding to give 625 faculty members long-overdue 6 percent pay increases. By increasing salaries, ODU will be able to retain talented teachers and attract others.
Despite a lack of consistent financial support for higher education from the governor, legislators have demonstrated that they value Virginia's state schools - especially ODU - in the current budgeting process. We urge them not to drop the ball as they enter the critical phase of finalizing a budget.