UVA in the News

Excerpts from an Article in The Washington Post, Tuesday, October 7, 2003

UVA Considers Work-Grant Assistance

The University of Virginia is considering a program that would allow low-income students to pay for their education with a combination of work and grants.

President John T. Casteen III discussed the idea last week with the university’s Board of Visitors. Casteen said the idea is worth examining as colleges try to increase student diversity by means other than race-based affirmative action.

Virginia’s interest was sparked by a new program at the University of North Carolina that requires eligible students to work on campus 10-12 hours a week through their four years. In return, federal and state grants cover 65 percent of a student’s need as determined through an application for financial aid, and UNC covers the rest. Eligible students must come from families at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

Maryland – A Different Approach
By: Lori Montgomery, Staff Writer
Contributor: Darragh Johnson, Staff Writer

Excerpts from an Article in The Washington Post, Saturday, October 4, 2003

Gov. Ehrlich’s closest ally on the board of Maryland’s university system wants to double tuition at public colleges and universities, a move he said would make higher education less reliant on a cash-strapped state government, encourage students to graduate faster and enhance the prestige of Maryland’s top institutions.

Richard Hug, one of the governor’s first appointments to the Board of Regents, is urging his colleagues to consider raising tuition from an average of $4,400 to about $9,000 over the next five-six years.

The increase would generate an additional $600 million a year and catapult Maryland to the top of the list of the nation’s most expensive public university systems. The increase would not only allow the system to recover more of the cost of a student’s education, he said, but also would encourage applicants to view UMD-College Park as a more selective institution, a concept known in higher education circles as the “Chivas Regal argument.” “The perception is, if tuition’s too low, people say, ‘Hey, that school can’t be any good,’” Hug said. “The best way to improve your reputation is to increase tuition.”

Some lawmakers and university Chancellor William E. Kirwan criticized the idea, saying tuition increases of the magnitude Hug is advocating would put college out of reach for poor and middle-class Marylanders, even if a substantial portion of the revenue were dedicated to financial aid, as Hug proposes.

Maryland, like most states, is in its worst economic condition in at least a decade. A national recession and faltering tax revenue have opened gaping holes in most state budgets, and spending cuts have prompted some of the largest tuition increases in years at public colleges and universities. A survey by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges found that virtually every state was increasing tuition this year, with at least 10 universities raising tuition and fees by 20 percent or more.

In Maryland, tuition increases had been capped at 4 percent by former Gov. Glendening. Over the past year, the annual state payment to the university system withered from $868 million to $746 million.

Regents approved a midyear tuition increase this past summer by an average of 18 percent. Another 10 percent increase has been proposed by Chancellor Kirwan. Maryland’s system of public education is among the 10 most expensive in the country. College Park’s tuition and fees for in-state resident, $6,759 this fall, is higher than the University of Virginia’s at $5,968.

Travis Reinidl, director of state policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said that while Hug’s proposal is “very appealing in theory, it runs into a lot of problems in practice.” “Raising tuition 1009 percent does not encourage kids to get out of school fast,” Reindl said. “It encourages them not to go to school at all.”