It’s like a scene out of “Girls Gone Wild,” except instead of pretty co-eds misbehaving, it’s the college administrators. As a result of this year’s tuition and fee increases, Virginia undergraduate students can expect to pay on average 7.3% more in 2008-09 than they did the prior year. That translates into an additional burden of $499 more per student, according to the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV).
The latest round of hikes perpetuates a decade-long trend of saddling students and their parents with ever-escalating bills for higher education. After adjusted for inflation, the annual average increase for in-state undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees is 3.1 percent at four-year institutions over the past decade, calculates SCHEV in its report, “2008-09 Tuition and Fees at Virginia’s State-Supported Colleges and Universities.“
Eleven institutions complied with the requirements of of the General Assembly’s Tuition Moderation Incentive Fund, restraining their tuition hikes in order to qualify for $17.5 million to be shared by qualifying schools. But six of the largest universities — Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary, Virginia Tech, George Mason University and the Virginia Community College System — opted out.
The tuition-moderation fund will provide participating schools a total of $17.5 million for limiting in-state undergraduate tuition and instruction-related fee increases to no more than 4 percent in 2008-09.By contrast, Virginia Tech is goosing its tuition, fees and charges upward by 9.4 percent, W&M by 8.7 percent and UVa by 7.3 percent.
The usual response of universities is that they jack up their fees to compensate for cuts in state assistance. There is something to that argument — but it’s only part of the explanation. This year, the General Assembly boosted state aid by 2 percent. Inflation over the past year has run about 5 percent. Clearly, the legislative assistance was inadequate to cover the higher costs. But, as has been the pattern for just about forever, the six largest universities hiked tuition and fees significantly faster than the inflation rate.
Bacon’s bottom line: Tuitions and fees at Virginia’s most prestigious public institutions are out of control. Boy, am I glad two of my three children have graduated. Only one to go. But I shudder to think what a university education will cost in another eight years.