Search results for: “College Fees”
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College Rankings: Got to Love ‘Em, Got to Hate ‘Em
The big news in the higher-ed world today is the publication of the 2018 U.S. News & World-Report college rankings, which, despite the many misgivings of anyone who knows anything about academia, remains the most widely followed consumer guide to higher education in America. The University of Virginia, the commonwealth’s flagship institution, fell a notch to…
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Community College Students Taking Loads of Unneeded Courses
A cornerstone of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s strategy for making higher education more affordable involves the state’s 23 community colleges. First and foremost, community colleges charge lower tuition than four-year colleges. Second, college-transfer programs enable students to combine two years of relatively inexpensive community college with two years of more costly four-year college to earn…
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Explaining the Moderation in College Tuition Increases
The increase in tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate students attending Virginia’s public colleges and universities will increase an average of 4.8% in the 2017-2018 academic year, according to a final report by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). That follows a 4.6% increase in 2017-17 and 6.0% in the year…
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The Diminishing Returns on a College Degree
After peaking in 2011 at 20.6 million, college enrollments in the United States have declined every year since, falling to 19 million in 2016. While the fall-off has been most pronounced in community colleges and for-profit institutions, many traditional four-year institutions have been affected as well. Why, ask Richard Vedder and Justin Strehle, is this happening?…
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Tom Perriello: Let’s Make Community College Free!
Tom Perriello, Democratic Party candidate for governor, is right about one thing: The cost of attending college is far more expensive today than it was when his father, a son of Italian immigrants, got a scholarship to the University of Virginia and graduated debt free. And he’s right that many young people today are graduating…
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Frank Wagner Calls for College Tuition Freezes
Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, has called for a tuition freeze for public colleges and universities in Virginia as soon as the state economy improves and revenues start climbing again. Moreover, in a speech delivered Friday on the Senate floor, he proposed restrictions on the funding of for financial assistance to out-of-state students. While many General…
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Who Would Have Guessed It? Virginians Want Lower College Tuitions.
One more result from VCU’s Commonwealth Education Poll… The pollsters asked an interesting question. If a public university has funds donated by alumni or philanthropists — we’re talking private money here, not public — should the institution use it to reduce tuition & fees, expand facilities or hire more faculty? Hands-down winner: make college more…
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How Budget Cuts Will Affect Virginia Colleges
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…
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College Graduation Rates and SAT Scores
John Butcher, of Cranky’s Blog fame, is turning his analytical gaze from K-12 schools to higher education. In his latest post, he explores the strong correlation between a Virginia public institution’s six-year graduation rate and the average SAT scores of its student body, as seen in the table to the left and the plotted chart below…
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Food Pantries, the Latest College Craze
There’s a new wrinkle on the college affordability crisis. Some students are so strapped for cash that colleges are setting up food pantries. As CNN reports, membership in the College and University Food Bank Alliance has quadrupled in the past two years to 398 members. “Even if you don’t hear about hunger being a problem,…
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Analyzing Runaway Tuition, College Costs
Half the increase in tuition over the past 20 years at public Virginia four-year colleges and universities can be attributed to a drop in state support for higher education. But tuition accounts for only 28% of the total cost of attendance in Virginia, according to a presentation that Anthony A. “Tony” Maggio, a legislative fiscal analyst,…
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Virginia College Tuition More Unaffordable than Ever
by James A. Bacon Against the backdrop of controversy over the University of Virginia’s $2.3 billion pot o’ money, the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) has published its annual update on tuition & fee trends in Virginia public universities, reminding us that what’s happening at UVa is symptomatic of a larger trend:…
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How the Feds Run Virginia’s Colleges and Universities Now
by James A. Bacon A new Vanderbilt University study sheds light on the relentless increase in costs at U.S. colleges and universities: government regulation. In a detailed study of 13 institutions, Vanderbilt and the Boston Consulting Group found that compliance with federal regulations ranges between 3% and 11%, depending upon the institution, with a median cost…
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Cutting Virginians No Slack: Colleges and Universities
by James A. Bacon The rocket-like ascent of college tuition in Virginia continues unabated, with tuition and fees across the state’s higher ed system averaging six percent in the 2015-2016 academic year, according to a new State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) report. That compares to an inflation rate of less than 1.0% between 2015…
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Rising College Costs Hit the Poor the Hardest
by James A. Bacon In 2009 President Barack Obama set a goal for the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. To reach that goal, more than 65% of individuals between 25 and 34 need to possess a college degree. Things aren’t working out well. Conclude the authors of a…