How Budget Cuts Will Affect Virginia Colleges

Proposed budget cuts for Virginia's public institutions of higher education.

Proposed budget cuts for Virginia’s public institutions of higher education. Data source: SCHEV. Click for more legible image.

Proposed cuts in state support for higher education in Virginia next fiscal year will effectively wipe out the extra money the General Assembly had allocated to public colleges and universities at the beginning of the budget cycle, Peter Blake, director of the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV), told his board yesterday. “We’re back to where we started,” he said.

The cuts will come in two forms. In the face of the current revenue shortfall, Governor Terry McAuliffe has proposed a 5% General Fund reduction in appropriations for higher ed over the two-year budget cycle. Plus, the budget amendments would reduce institutions’ appropriations by $24.2 million to recover  adjustments to Virginia Retirement System rates for employees

Besides the cuts to individual institutions, as shown in the table above, the governor proposes cuts to SCHEV itself, the INOVA Global Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Institute, and other line items. The state also is clawing back $5 million in interest earnings and credit card rebates from the colleges and universities.

Blake said that legislators have told him that they will try to restore some of the funds, but added that there were no guarantees.

Marge Connelly, chair of the resources and planning committee, observed that Virginia’s higher education sector needs a more stable revenue stream from the commonwealth but offered no specific suggestions. SCHEV took no formal action in response to the data.

Blake said that the increased state contribution to higher ed in the current fiscal year made possible the lowest tuition hikes in years. Indeed, a legislative analysis presented to SCHEV in November found that state cuts accounted for about half the tuition increases over the past 20 years. However, that doesn’t include increases in fees, room, board and other expenses, so the state budget cuts explain only about 14% of the increased Cost of Attendance.