As Virginia moves forward with structural reform, we should remember that changing the shape of higher education may provide a number of important and tangible benefits, but it will not solve all the problems. What was once the "Chartered University" proposal of three schools is now a comprehensive, statewide reform act supported by all of Virginia's higher-education institutions. Reforming the system for 21st-Century competition has received initial approval from the General Assembly. These reform proposals include much-needed efficiency benefits, improved tuition predictability, and advancement opportunities from two-year to four-year institutions.

Our institutions of higher education must compete in the global 21st-Century economy. A decade ago, UVa and VCU were competing with UNC and the University of Maryland. Now Virginia is competing for the best students, companies, and jobs with Germany, India, and China. It's a fight we cannot afford to lose.

Decentralizing higher education will make our schools more competitive and the Virginia economy stronger while saving money. No longer will a college have to wait 18 months for state approval to build a new dorm or sign a lease for needed classroom space. All that waiting costs money, and all the money comes straight out of the taxpayers' pockets.

Predictable tuition rates will be one tangible benefit of higher-education reform. Each school will develop a six-year financial plan, laying out best- and worst-case scenarios for tuition levels. This means families will have a better idea of how much they will be paying to send their children to college. Rather than being hit with significantly higher tuition a few months before the bill is due, parents will be able to plan for the cost. Finding thousands of dollars in a few short months is nearly impossible for a family already strapped with loans, grants, and a second job to afford the bill. The reform proposals will help prevent this from happening.

One reform returns fairness and equity to the way the state handles tuition and fee money. Currently, the interest earned on the tuition paid by students and their families goes into the state's coffers to be spent on other programs. Under the reform proposals that money, over $20 million, will be put back where it belongs: at our schools to protect our students.

Virginia's community college system is often referred to as the onramp to higher education. One of the most important aspects of higher education reform is a new set of agreements between two-year and four-year institutions that will make it easier to move from a community college to one of the state's universities. The benefits to our economy and quality of life from higher education are so important that we cannot allow students to lose that opportunity because of bureaucratic hurdles.

Reform proposals may make tuition more predictable, but only the General Assembly's funding commitments can determine if it's predictably high or predictably low. Likewise, reform proposals can streamline the process for new construction on campus, but without funding we cannot break ground in the first place.

Last year, responsible, pro-education leaders in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate, along with Gov. Mark R. Warner, brought us halfway back from the cuts to education made in recent years. Now that we're halfway back, we can't afford to stop. With so much of our future depending on an educated workforce and a knowledge economy, shortchanging our future should never be an option. All the reshaping in the world might make it easier to drink the water, but it doesn't refill the half-empty glass.