Virginia Commonwealth University increases tuition 24 percent, but still falls short of closing budget gap
Richmond Times Dispatch
May 5, 2010
Virginia Commonwealth University will charge in-state undergraduates $1,700 more in tuition and fees next year -- a 24 percent increase that still will fall short of filling a projected $40 million budget hole.
The board of visitors yesterday approved increasing tuition and mandatory fees to $8,817 for Virginia residents and $21,949 for out-of-state undergraduates, a $1,200 rise. The increases for the 2010-11 academic year, including higher rates for master's students, will generate $33.4 million for the university.
The percentage increase is more than double, and in some cases triple, what other boards in Virginia have approved so far to make up for ongoing reductions in state support. Virginia Tech last week approved a nearly 10 percent increase, and the University of Virginia will consider a similar rate increase today.
"Percentages mean very little when you have very low tuition," VCU Rector Anne J.G. "Panny" Rhodes said. VCU points to its tuition as being the lowest among the state's doctoral institutions.
"It actually is a correction to an unusually low tuition rate," said VCU President Michael Rao, who had recommended a smaller increase for in-state residents -- $1,200, or 17 percent.
But the board, with two members objecting of the nine who were present for the vote, went with the highest of three options presented during the three-hour special meeting.
The increase means the average cost of attending VCU will come to $17,343 for an in-state undergraduate living on campus, a 12.4 percent increase over last year.
Board members Maurice A. Jones and John C. Doswell voted against the 24 percent tuition option and said it was too much of a burden to put on students.
They supported Rao's recommendation, and Jones said even that increase was "breathtaking."
However, board member Arthur D. Hurtado described the increase as a "traumatic paradigm shift" made necessary by a state funding formula that has resulted in VCU taking the brunt of budget cuts because more than 90 percent of its students are Virginians.
"We're at the point now we're hemorrhaging quality," said Brian K. Jackson.
Some students had been anticipating a significant increase, but "they really didn't see a spike like that coming," said Taylor Whitelow, a junior from Harrisonburg who is director of political affairs for the Student Government Association.
