The University will not seek state funds for a proposed outreach program designed to prepare minority students for study at the University, according to Nancy Rivers, director of state and government relations.
The University requested state funding for the program in September, but in December Governor James S. Gilmore III (R) did not allocate money for the program in his budget. In January the University had a second chance to request funds from the General Assembly but did not.
"We tried to submit our top priorities; the vice presidents had to make a decision" in lieu of other programs that required funding, Rivers said.
"In terms of state funding, at least for this coming summer, [the program] will not have state funding," University spokeswoman Louise Dudley said.
The original program would have involved recruiting 700 economically disadvantaged minority students after their eighth-grade year. The students would have attended a two-week session every summer until their senior year in order to become acclimated to the University. Board of Visitors member Terence P. Ross proposed the program as a way of strengthening minority recruitment. Officials from the Provost's Office and the Office of Admissions then developed the program.
Although the University did not request funds from the General Assembly for the program, it still plans to develop programs to attract minorities, Rivers said.
"Because it was a start-up program with a big price tag, we thought there were other ways to accomplish [the goal of the program] without as high of a cost," Dudley said.
Without state funding, the Office of Admissions and the Office of African-American Affairs are looking for new ways to attract more minority students or to fund the program, she said.
In September, the University sent a proposal, endorsed by the Board, to Gilmore outlining budget requests.
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But the proposal for the summer and outreach programs "was listed seventeenth on the list of proposals," Rivers said.
After Gilmore did not allocate money to the program in December, the University "internally funded" the outreach office, Dudley said. "Two outreach counselors were added so that more people could dedicate themselves to informing high school students" about the University.
Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn could not be reached for comment.
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