College students in Virginia may soon see their tuition rise, in an unwelcome trend that is becoming all too common across the nation.
Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors voted late March to raise their tuition and fees 2.9 percent, for the 17th year in a row--which is, ironically enough, one of the lowest tuition increases that the Commonwealth of Virginia has seen in recent years.
It is, in fact, lower than normal, especially when compared to other state schools with large student bodies. Virginia Commonwealth University’s tuition increased 3.8 percent in 2017, the latest in annual tuition increases at the school since 2001. This year, university officials say they are considering the biggest tuition hike yet: an increase between 6.4 to 8.1 percent, which could effectively double last year’s hike.
Most university administrators cite their tuition increases to the lack of public funding from the state, like VCU, who has lost more than 34.3 million in state cuts within the past four years.
However, public funding cuts do not affect all universities equally. Take, for example, the tuition increases at both VCU and VT, expected to be implemented for the next academic year. Tech’s board voted unanimously to raise tuition 2.9 percent, while VCU’s budget proposal presents an increase anywhere within 6.8 to 8.1 percent.
Both universities are tier three schools, which are usually designated to large, public research facilities, and both have around the same number of students enrolled--so why is VCU’s proposed hike so much higher than Tech’s, which VT’s President Timothy Sands referred to as the “lowest in the commonwealth?”
It is, unfortunately, a complex issue. VCU Vice President of Finance and Budgeting Karol Gray said the most contributing factor is the demographic of both school’s student bodies.
“We are educating more in-state students than our other tier three schools. We have about 24,000 students, and 90 percent of those students are in-state and 10 percent are out-of-state,” Gray said in a budget information session with the VCU Board of Visitors and Student Government Association on April 11.
“Virginia Tech, University of Virginia and University of William & Mary are in the tier three category, along with VCU. They have the benefit of educating more out-of-state students. We can debate that, but out-of-state tuition makes it a lot easier to deal with state cuts.” she said.
When determining how to fund public state schools, the legislature doesn’t take into account differences in student bodies, or the money brought in by in-state versus international or out-of-state students, said Gray.
Out-of-state students can potentially pay tens of thousands of dollars more in tuition and fees than in-state residents, according to The College Board--and that kind of money can mean a world of difference in the budgeting process.
“Virginia Tech, for example, can keep their tuition lower. Why? Because they’re educating 29 percent of out-of-state students, meaning they can bring in richer revenue than VCU,” Gray said. “And that’s really a dilemma.”
But soaring interest from out-of-state and international students isn’t entirely beneficial, either. In an interview with The Roanoke Times in March, VT President Timothy Sands says the increasing out-of-state enrollment reflects the “21st-century student experience” that VT can offer. However, this also means the school will have to wait-list or deny qualified in-state applicants who “could be successful at Virginia Tech,” according to Sands.
But no two universities take into account the same factors when proposing their budgets--one unique factor VCU had to tackle in the development of their newest budget proposal is faculty and staff salaries. Within the past year, many adjunct professors have been campaigning for better wages, which are currently below the national average. After numerous protests and demonstrations, the school’s new budget includes incremental raises for adjunct faculty, which Gray confirmed as a “serious concern” to the school administration.
“We are inserting money to manage the adjunct faculty salary, to bring them up to a minimum of $1,000 per credit,” Gray said. But, with the school’s limited resources, it still remains a difficult problem. She also recommended that adjunct professors instructing more than three classes should instead become full-time, tenured faculty, who have better wages and benefits.
Both VT and VCU aren’t the only colleges in Virginia raising the price of their education, and certainly aren’t the only ones in the country. Tuition has been increasing in public universities across the country almost exponentially throughout the past few decades, leaving students and families with overwhelming debt.
Best College Values, an organization dedicated to providing tuition and fee data and resources to pay for school, claims that tuition has been increasing over the past 30 years at a rate even higher than inflation. In 2011, they reported the average student loan debt at nearly $30,000, while the federal government’s average Pell Grant remained below $5,000, as it has since 1977. It doesn’t take much calculation or measurement to realize that the price of higher education is steadily growing--for some, it’s growing even faster than families can afford to pay them.
“This is the state of affairs for higher education, unfortunately,” Karol Gray said. “Virginia is worse than many other states, but this is the problem within the country with higher education. Every state is having difficulty with their own revenues.”
Even with the risk of financial instability that some can face as the cost of attending college increases, the decision to raise tuition is not made by malintentions by university administration: in fact, it is the exact opposite.
“I believe these students here deserve the same academic quality that Virginia Tech, William & Mary, University of Virginia and James Madison University are offering, and they’re offering it because they have more out-of-state students,” Gray said. “I feel all of you deserve the same academic quality in education and facilities--and I don’t think you’re getting it."
Gray says universities will always be mindful of the student body while making decisions, no matter how the budget or tuition is tweaked. “This is a painful exercise for me,” she said at the forum. “We are sensitive to our student population. I know you don’t like a tuition increase--nor do I.”
While Virginia Tech’s Board has already voted on their 2019 budget, other schools like VCU are waiting until May to present their proposals to their respective boards and to the state legislature. It has yet to be seen how either schools’ student bodies will be affected, but as costs of attending college continue to rise nationwide, one thing is clear: higher education in America is in crisis, and will likely face serious restructuring in the future, as more and more students and their families weigh the risk of financial stability and getting a degree.