UNTIL recently, I have thought of the University as a collection of intelligent, hard-working people - students, faculty and staff - who care about one another and the world at large. We have an excellent record of community service, created by the thousands of students who donate their time through Madison House and other groups. Many of our graduates go on to work for the government and non-profit organizations, even though they could make more money elsewhere.
The University fosters an atmosphere that balances valuing knowledge for oneself and valuing good for others. All the whining about cuts to funding for higher education, however, has begun to change my mind about this place.
Yes, the University needs more money, particularly for the monstrously huge, monstrously underfunded economics department. Even in the flush times of, say, two years ago, required classes such as ECON 371 were impossible to get into unless one was a third-year major who had to take the class or be dropped by the department.
For those of you who have gotten into an economics class, what is economics? It is the study of how people satisfy unlimited wants with scarce resources. At the moment, the resources of the state budget are quite scarce indeed, and the people of Virginia want just about everything: roads, schools, hospitals.
A certain sense of deja vu pervades this situation. Virginia has been here before now. Then, too, it was in the first year of a Democratic governor's administration, after a long Republican reign. Then, too, the new governor had to bear the brunt of public disapproval as he struggled to end the budget shortfalls caused by unwise policies and a national recession.
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The main difference between now and then only points out how foolish Virginia's General Assembly has been. The Senate Finance Committee predicted the current economic downturn in July 2000, yet Virginia's legislature did little to prepare for it. At least the problem was unexpected last time.
It was the early 1990s, L. Douglas Wilder had been elected governor, and Virginia was in its worst budget crisis since World War II, with a projected shortfall of $1.4 billion. Wilder balanced the budget without raising taxes or endangering the state's bond rating, and even created a rainy-day reserve, but doing so hit state institutions hard.
If you think higher education is taking a hit now, imagine college budgets sliced by 20 percent instead of seven percent. Imagine 10 to 20 percent increases in tuition, instead of the five to six percent Gov. Mark R. Warner has proposed.
Others have been correct in declaring Warner's proposal, which would send 85 percent of revenue from the tuition hike back to the general fund, to be a hidden tax on higher education.
However, remarks that Warner's budget would set the University back 25 years are even more of an overstatement than probably were intended. The University recovered quickly from Wilder's deep budget cuts once the state's economy improved, and likely will do so again.
Although dealing with the loss of funding will be difficult, students and faculty need to keep their problems in perspective. More off-Grounds students will have to pay for Internet access with the loss of ITC services. But the alternative may be to fire ITC staff. Economics classes will get even more crowded. But the alternative may be for young students in the elementary, middle and high schools to share textbooks.
Before you bellyache over the loss of state funding for higher education, or the increase in in-state tuition, take a moment to think. What would you do in Warner's place? Cut funding for battered women's shelters, perhaps? Maybe increase the cost of health care for families living just above the poverty line?
While the University focuses on its own pain, proposed state funding cuts are affecting other people as well. For example, community health services will lose $25 million over the next two years, which comes on top of $5 million in cuts for this year. Medicaid already has over 1,000 Virginians on its "urgent care" waiting list, and Sept. 11 brought a spike in demand for mental health services. Tell these people about the pain of not being able to double-major.
These are the hard choices leaders have to make, especially in states where people still haven't learned that you can't have spending without revenues - that is, you can't have services without taxes. Until Virginia's voters figure this out, and stop rewarding politicians for fiscal irresponsibility, the Commonwealth will go through this mess with every recession.
If you know how to keep the University's budget plump without starving the rest of the state, give Warner a call. With all the smart, service-committed people we have, surely someone can do more for Virginia than just complain.
(Pallavi Guniganti's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at pguniganti@cavalierdaily.com.)
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