Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

JLARC Higher-Ed Study Ducks Most Critical Questions

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James A. Bacon
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jlarc_higher_edby James A. Bacon

Key findings from the new Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report, “Key Trends in Higher Education Funding, Enrollment, and Student Costs“:

  • Most spending at public four-year higher education institutions in Virginia is on activities other than direct instruction. Auxiliary enterprises such as housing, dining and inter-collegiate athletics have been the largest driver of spending increases.
  • The price of tuition, fees, housing and dining have increased over the past two decades on average by 150% between 1992-93 and 2011-2013.
  • State funding as a percentage of total revenue in Virginia institutions has declined by 22% between 1991-92 and 2011-12.
  • Charges to students far outpaced average increases in annual income, causing a surge in the percentage of students who borrow and the amount they borrow. The average annual student loan amount in Virginia almost tripled between 1992-93 and 2011-12 to nearly $100,000.

One area where Virginia four-year institutions appear to do an outstanding job: 46% of Virginia students graduate within four years compared to about 24% nationally. Boom! They’re in, they’re out. No dilly-dallying. Even adjusting for the socio-demographic profiles of the student bodies (students from more affluent families tend to graduate more quickly), Virginia institutions outperformed national averages by wide margins.

Bacon’s bottom line: This report sheds light on contentious issues revolving around higher education in Virginia, particularly rising student indebtedness. But it also strikes me as a missed opportunity. What conclusions arise from this document that will drive public policy? Nothing obvious.

Important questions go unanswered. Perhaps the most critical is this: To what extent is the cut in state support for higher education responsible for the higher tuition, fees and other charges? Clearly, declining state support is a factor. But is it the predominant factor? Do state cutbacks account for 20%, 50% or 80% of the rise in expenses? The report doesn’t say.

A related question, almost as vital, is this: To what extent can the run-up in educational spending be attributed to increasing administrative costs? The report side-steps that issue entirely.

Those questions matter because the central issue in this debate over public education in Virginia is this: Can citizens reasonably expect universities to cut more without sacrificing academic quality? If cutbacks in state support explain the entire increase in college-related expenses, then university presidents get a pass. If cutbacks in state support explain only a modest percentage of the increase, then presidents and boards need to stop blaming the state and look inward to their own bloated cost structures.

Graphic credit: JLARC. Click for more legible image.
Graphic credit: JLARC. Click for more legible image.

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3 responses to “JLARC Higher-Ed Study Ducks Most Critical Questions”

  1. thebyurokrat Avatar
    thebyurokrat

    That report was just the first in a series of five that JLARC is publishing on higher education over the course of two years.

    In September JLARC will report on student services, auxiliaries, and athletics. December will look at academic programs, faculty compensation and workloads, and research. Next fall one report will look at administration expenses and student aid, and the final report will look at governance.

    http://jlarc.virginia.gov/meetings/June13/Rpt441brf.pdf

    Slide 3 lays out the schedule and topic areas.

  2. Breckinridge Avatar
    Breckinridge

    He beat me to it — yes, this is the first installment, Jim. Stand by for more. But I’m not sure that all the key questions will be addressed.

    There is a major gap between what it costs to educate the students and what the students themselves have to pay for, because not everything they pay for is really necessary. There are a lot of extras, and that will be a major focus of the next JLARC report I hope. Some of the extra’s pay for themselves (dorms, food service) and some do not (sports, layers of unneeded bureaucracy). But none of them add value to the final product, a student prepared in their chosen field.

    So I think both of the problems you point to are to blame. The General Assembly has cut basic support for the schools, expecting loans and grants or cash from the parents to make up the difference. And the price students have to pay, when you include mandatory fees, is growing far faster than the actual cost of the basics.

    We’ve had a pretty good run since WW II but it is over, and as someone who expects the Chinese to be running the world by the middle of this century, I’m convinced we will look back and see that this how we gave up our leadership position — by utterly wasting huge amounts of capital on fancy dorms, football glory and fat educational bureaucracies that left a generation of students in unprecedented debt.

  3. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    I was struck by this:

    “Most spending at public four-year higher education institutions in Virginia is on activities other than direct instruction. Auxiliary enterprises such as housing, dining and inter-collegiate athletics have been the largest driver of spending increases.”

    then this:

    ” To what extent is the cut in state support for higher education responsible for the higher tuition, fees and other charges?”

    and it brings this question to mind:

    what should the taxpayers of virginia being helping to pay for BEYOND the core instruction ?

    Virginia has an excellent law (not in political money obviously) .. for localities to report the categories of their spending and this INCLUDES how the public schools spend money in 5 categories of which one is instruction.

    there are some games played but all in all it gives taxpayers some idea of what the money is being spent for by public schools.

    why not extend this law to Virginia’s colleges and universities so that JLARC has a pretty good head start to build on?

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