Virginia Rising

By KARIN KAPSIDELIS Richmond Times-Dispatch | Posted 2 days ago

Virginia Commonwealth University undergraduates would pay about 3 percent more in tuition and mandatory fees next year under proposals presented Tuesday to the board of visitors.

The board was offered two tuition options during a work session on the $538.38 million budget plan for covering instructional programs and related costs.

The options would increase tuition and mandatory fees for in-state students either by $344 or $374. That includes an $11 rise in the health-service charge, the only mandatory fee that would be increased.

Under the proposals, in-state students would pay either $12,742 or $12,772 in tuition and mandatory fees next academic year — a 2.7 percent or 3 percent increase, respectively.

The board is scheduled to vote May 8 on the tuition proposals, which are based on a course load of 15 credit hours per semester. Out-of-state students, who make up about 12 percent of undergraduates, would pay a total of $31,377 or $31,463 under similar options.

For in-state students, the total increases including room and board would average either 2.82 percent, an additional $612, or 3.09 percent, an additional $670. The actual amount, however, varies by residence hall and dining plan.

For the university, the revenue derived from the tuition rate increase would be either $7.8 million or $8.9 million, William R. Decatur, senior vice president for finance and administration, told the board.

Top priorities for the additional revenue are faculty compensation and student financial aid, and if the higher rate is approved, deferred maintenance, Decatur said.

The budget proposal includes a recommendation to add 2.5 percent from reallocated funds to the 2 percent salary increase approved by the state. That would make faculty eligible to receive 4.5 percent increases based on performance.

Average salary growth at VCU has risen 0.4 percent since 2009, below that of peers nationally, and compensation is as much as 22 percent lower than a comparable position at the University of Virginia, the board was told.

“The job is not just teaching,” VCU President Michael Rao said. Faculty members also are required to devote significant amounts of time to student advising, community engagement and research, he said.

The administration proposal also calls for a $500 increase in the differential fee charged to engineering students, which now is $1,286. The differential supports the higher salary required to attract engineering faculty.

The budget plan is based on projections that VCU will enroll 300 additional undergraduates for the fall semester for a total of 31,562 students.

VCU is heavily tuition-dependent, Decatur said. About $360.8 million, or 67 percent of the instructional budget, comes from tuition and fees. State general funds contribute $158.4 million to the budget, or 29.4 percent.

That represents the reverse in the cost-share ratio that had been the state’s goal for paying for the education for resident students, Decatur said.

What’s viewed as “the runaway cost” of higher education actually represents the replacement of state funding through higher tuition, he said.

The tuition discussion coincided with the day a student advocacy group called for protests about college costs at public universities around the state. Several students representing Virginia Student Power Network attended VCU board’s meeting.

“Tuition has been going up for years now,” said Taylor Manigoult, a sophomore from Atlanta. “So the fact that once again both options are to increase tuition is not at all surprising. It seems matter-of-fact at this point.”

She said the group’s goal is to push for a more affordable education “that doesn’t cripple us with debt.”

In a message to the VCU community about the board meeting, Rao said the tuition proposals before the board represent “a modest increase.”

“These budget recommendations reflect sensitivity to the cost of higher education at a major public research institution and our responsibility to provide a high-quality education — a strong return on students’ significant investment,” his message said.