DATE: Saturday, July 12, 1997               TAG: 9707120019

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   58 lines

COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS MIDDLE-CLASS ENTITLEMENT

Virginia's gubernatorial candidates want to reward good students by giving them college scholarships. Who could object?

On the surface, no one.

But funds are finite. Are such scholarships among the top two or three priorities for new spending by state government over the next four years? That's a hard case to make.

Both Democrat Donald S. Beyer Jr. and Republican James S. Gilmore III would give $2,000 scholarships to students who maintain B averages in high school and attend either a public or private Virginia college.

Beyer's award would be a one-time grant. Gilmore's could be renewed annually, so long as the student maintained a B average. Financial need would not be considered at that point in either candidate's plan.

Beyer, however, would also invest substantial new funds in the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program, which provides tuition grants based on both merit and need, and in the Commonwealth Awards, based on need.

Beyer says the grants would then cover 60 percent of the need for assistance, rather than the current 35 percent. The total estimated four-year cost is $262 million for Beyer's program and $240 million for Gilmore's.

If Virginia must choose one plan or the other, Beyer's is preferable because taxpayer-financed aid to college students should take into account both need and merit. In a world of limited resources, extending a hand to a large group of people who don't especially need it is an unaffordable luxury.

But both these plans, especially Gilmore's, tend to reward those students who least need a boost - both economically and academically. Which brings us to some deeper concerns about the overall thrust of these proposals.

Presumably, the problem being addressed is the high cost of a college education. But is giving more money to consumers the best way to contain costs? And are scholarships the first priority when it comes to spending on Virginia colleges?

Frankly, it looks as if the solution is being tailored primarily to fish for votes. Elections turn on the preferences of the middle class. So it's a little suspicious that Gilmore's plan, and Beyer's to a lesser extent, make so direct an appeal to middle-class pocketbooks.

In Virginia, the high-cost to consumers of higher education is due to a considerable extent to lagging state spending on universities and colleges in the 1990s. For a while, steadily increasing tuitions made up the shortfall. But tuition rates - now fourth highest in the country - were frozen, in part in response to public complaint.

Grumbling voters should remember, however, that per pupil investment in Virginia colleges is 44th among the 50 states. High tuitions are one of the trade-offs for a low tax rate.

Both Gilmore and Beyer need to explain why they are proposing to subsidize middle-class parents rather than adequately funding state schools and encouraging corresponding tuition cuts.

So far, both candidates are concentrating on telling voters about ways they'll cut taxes and expand services. Neither is discussing the hard choices that will have to be made in order to rebuild deteriorating roads and classrooms and to keep state colleges competitive.

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