College presidents: Tuition will increase with state cuts

RICHMOND

College tuitions will increase significantly this fall to compensate for expected cuts in state funding, a group of college presidents told lawmakers Wednesday.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, in a comprehensive proposal this winter to erase a $2.9 billion budget shortfall, has asked the General Assembly to authorize 15 percent spending cuts to four-year colleges and 10 percent reductions to two-year colleges.

The presidents complained that this would be the third time in the past eight years that the General Assembly, confronted with budget problems, has slashed aid to colleges. Appearing before the House Appropriations Committee, they said they would have no choice but to once again raise tuitions.

Most declined to say by how much, but President Charles Steger said the cuts will require a 9 percent tuition increase at Virginia Tech - on top of a 10.8 percent increase last fall.

Steger and other presidents said they would combine the tuition increases with yet-to-be-determined cost-cutting and possible layoffs to balance the lost state aid.

They said the budget reductions come as the universities face rising costs to keep pace with growing enrollment, energy consumption and salary competition for professors.

"It's almost tragic for us," said Carolyn Meyers, president of Norfolk State University. She noted that 90 percent of Norfolk State's students receive financial aid and 25 percent are single parents.

"These cuts are downright frightening and scary," Meyers said. "We don't have a student body that can absorb double-digit cuts."

University budgets are still reeling from a 25 percent cut in state funding in 2002 and a 5 percent reduction last year. "The tuition increases we've experienced at my institution are directly related to general fund reductions," said Linwood Rose, president of James Madison University.

Steger said Virginia Tech is developing an emergency program to make loans available to students whose parents lose their jobs.

He and other presidents maintained that Virginia colleges remain a bargain. "I do not get complaints from families about tuition," he said. "I get complaints that their kids didn't get in."

Kaine, to soften the blow on tuitions, has proposed creating an additional $26 million in need-based financial aid for students.

Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, said the aid does not help middle-class families.

Several legislators urged the presidents to consider requiring professors to teach more classes. The presidents were asked how they would react to a tuition freeze - a tactic employed in the late 1990s.

"It would profoundly affect us in a very negative way," said Steger.

Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com