Imagine that you and your spouse are sitting at the dinner table. You’ve come to the realization that you’re in substantial debt. Your spouse begins to lay out options for dealing with the situation. These options include getting another job, asking friends and family for some help, and cutting the household budget. Then they come up with one more option: take out credit cards and loans in your 18-year-old daughter’s name to pay down the debt.
If you’re not horrified by that idea, you need professional help, and I’m not talking about a financial advisor (though that’s probably necessary also). I love my wife a great deal, but if she suggested that we offload debt to our child in such an underhanded fashion, my next phone call would likely be to a divorce attorney.
And yet that’s the option that a panel at the University of Virginia (UVA) seems to have glommed onto in dealing with their own financial issues. Their “Public University Working Group” issued recommendation last week on how to increase revenue. The group recommended UVA, which was conceived by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, sever some or all of its ties with the state in order to raise its prestige and allow it to increase tuition more freely. In other words, it would give up the $150 million in annual state funding it currently receives as a state supported school so it can rake in millions more from 18-year-olds.
This bears repeating, with a little more detail. The University of Virginia wants more cash.
To get it, it could:
1. Make the case to its state legislature that the $150 million it receives every year is insufficient;
2. Failing that, it could make the case to citizens of Virginia that the institution they’re quite proud of needs more money to operate;
3. Ask its alumni and donors (many of whom are rather notable according to UVA’s own website) to help fill the gap;
4. Be more fiscally responsible when it comes to approving expansion and renovation projects; there have been many new construction and renovation projects occurring on the campus in recent years;
5. Otherwise shed some of its budget or find ways to save money;
6. Cut a few of these very high salaries for its staff and faculty, all of whom reside in a relatively inexpensive part of Virginia, including $275,000 per year for the offensive coordinator of their football team (full disclosure: I’m a huge sports fan – I don’t take this recommendation lightly and I understand the overall economics of collegiate sports. I also have little sympathy for the counter arguments, all things considered here);
7. Find other ways to generate revenue, such as through online learning programs or sponsorships;
8. Literally anything other than this …;
9. Charge students outrageous sums of money and risk denying access to the institution to a substantial portion of Virginia’s own students, a problem acknowledged by the panel in making its recommendation.
The panel decided on option 9.
For the record, here’s the operating budget for the University of Virginia since 2000-2001:
Saying that they’ve done nothing to keep their budget in check would actually be flattering given this track record. And yet, despite increasing their budget by nearly $1.5 billion dollars, the University of Virginia still wants more.
To get it, the school is willing to hurt the very students it alleges to serve.. If this doesn’t make you as utterly apoplectic as it does me, maybe it’s time to get some professional help.
Other states, such as Michigan, have indicated the whole purpose of their public college and university system is to serve the public good and the best interests of its citizens and students. Perhaps that’s why tuition and fees at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, a prestigious institution in its own right, are nearly half that for in-state students as UVA is for Virginians. At a time when 70% of students surveyed are skipping buying textbooks for their classes to save money, every penny that states and institutions can cut from tuition increases the likelihood of students succeeding in their studies.
It is well past time that institutions of higher education take more responsibility for keeping tuition affordable. Actions like these only accomplish one thing, and that’s putting a college education further out of reach for millions of Americans, especially those from low-income and minority families. Beyond the obvious impact on Virginians, this potential pursuit of the University of Virginia could reverberate throughout higher education. If successful, other institutions may follow suit, which could create a domino effect that increases tuitions everywhere.
President Obama has recently issued his plan to hold colleges responsible for recklessly raising tuition. The panel running the show at the University of Virginia demonstrates exactly how necessary such policies have become.
Domenic Giandomenico joined Democrats for Education Reform in 2013 after devoting more than a decade of his career to ensuring that every student of every age, background, and aspiration has access to the excellent education they deserve.