State council stresses higher education affordability

RICHMOND — Virginia’s public colleges and universities might have to raise tuition to make up for expected budget cuts, but the state’s higher-education agency says schools should devote a portion of that money to financial aid for low-income, in-state students.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia on Tuesday said schools that raise tuition to make up for cuts in state appropriations should allocate between 5 percent and 30 percent of those increases to need-based financial aid for in-state students.

When tuition rises, financial aid should follow suit, SCHEV’s executive director Daniel LaVista said.

“If you’re charging more, you should extend more support,” he said in a telephone interview. He said the amount would depend on factors such as the size of a school’s endowment and its ability to raise private funds, particularly during the current economic downturn.

The proposal comes at a time when the tanking economy is forcing Virginia and other states to cut education spending. At the same time, students and their parents are having a harder time covering rising tuition costs.

SCHEV says that Virginia must remain competitive economically and that such success is directly tied to educational attainment.

The agency also recommended that the state offer more financial incentives for public colleges to retain students, especially minorities and those from low-income backgrounds; ensure they finish school on time; and raise graduation rates.

SCHEV also said that in Virginia, a student’s education gets inadequate state funding and depends heavily on tuition and fees, which continue to increase each year.

“The state should work to reconcile the fact that, while it ranks comparatively high nationally in per-capita income, it ranks comparatively low nationally — and has for some time — in state support per student,” according to a report accompanying SCHEV’s recommendations.

Adjusted for inflation, the average general fund appropriation for a full-time, in-state student for 2009-10 is $6,606, down 8 percent from the 2003-04 school year, according to state budget figures. Meanwhile, the average non-general fund appropriation per student for 2009-10 is $9,123, up 31 percent from 2003-04. Tuition and fees make up about 90 percent of non-general fund appropriations, according to Dan Hix, SCHEV’s finance policy director.

Virginia also should do a better job encouraging needy students to pursue higher education, SCHEV said, by promoting the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program. The state developed VGAP in the early 1990s as an incentive for students to do well in high school in exchange for financial aid. But currently, few students know about VGAP until after they’ve been admitted to college and have received their financial-aid packages.