The 2004 Appropriation Act allows the boards of visitors of public Virginia universities to set tuition and fee charges for out-of-state students at levels based on competitive market rates, provided that “the tuition and mandatory educational and general fee rates … cover at least 100 percent of the average cost of their education.”
Based on published fees and projected enrollment, SCHEV has calculated that every institution will charge tuition & fees above the average cost of education this year.
Bacon’s bottom line: In theory, out-of-state students are money makers for Virginia universities, which charge them significantly higher nominal tuition and fees than what in-state students pay. I say “nominal” because out-of-state students don’t necessarily pay the full freight any more than in-state students do. Indeed, it is readily apparent from comparing this chart to the nominal out-of-state tuition and fees that universities provide significant discounts and/or financial aid to attract the out-of-state students they want.
Thus, to cite an institution that has been in the news lately, the University of Virginia charges undergraduate students admitted to the College of Arts & Sciences this year nominal tuition and fees of $45,066 dollars if they are out-of-state. But, according to the SCHEV chart, average tuition amounts to only $35,385. (Complicating the comparison is the fact that the latter number reflects average cost of both graduates and undergraduates, and also includes upper class students whose fees have been frozen while incoming students were jacked up 10%. Still, those factors don’t account for a nearly $10,000 discount.)
To take a simpler example, George Mason University charges nominal out-of-state tuition and fees of $32,392. But according to the SCHEV numbers, the actual tuition is $29,426 — a difference of almost $3,000.
Nevertheless, it is clear that out-of-state students subsidize in-state students. To pick UVa again, the average per-student cost is $24,429 but the actual in-state tuition charged is only $14,476. It’s tempting to complain about UVa admitting too many out-of-state students, but the sky-high tuitions they pay help hold down the cost for Virginia students. On the other hand, given the large number of out-of-staters that apply to Virginia, one can legitimately ask whether it is necessary to provide such a large discount.
