Under both House and Senate budget proposals, the University, along with only three other state universities, would absorb a 60 percent majority of proposed higher education funding cuts.
The special expense distribution came from both the House and Senate budget-writers, who stand in opposition to Gov. Mark R. Warner's proposal that all state agencies receive the same, across-the-board reductions.
"The governor, all along through this belt-tightening process, has taken the stance that we should all share the same level of sacrifice," Warner's Ellen Qualls said. "He doesn't want to pick on one college or university."
But budget plans from the House appropriations and Senate finance committees clashed with Warner's.
Their proposals call for reducing schools' funding by specially tailored amounts -- amounts to be based on comparisons with funding targets set by a legislative panel on higher education.
The University, along with Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University, will see the heaviest cutbacks under each chamber's plan, because it was deemed among the least underfunded institutions in the state.
According to the legislative panel's analysis, the University suffered from a 4 percent funding shortage. Virginia Tech's shortfall was measured at a comparable 5 percent.
On the other hand, the panel measured a 15 percent funding shortage at James Madison University and 12 percent at Radford University.
This assessment prompted both House and Senate committees to cut deeper into the larger research universities' resources while backing off on cuts for smaller schools and community colleges.
For example, Warner recommended a reduction of $45.1 million from Virginia Tech's two-year budget. The Senate proposal ratcheted the number up to $55.5 million while the House recommended an even greater cut of $60.4 million.
Radford, JMU and Old Dominion, along with the community college system, were deemed most underfunded and all stand to gain from the legislative proposals.
In 2003, the earlier call for $2.7 million cuts would be reduced to $2.4 million under the House plan. With expected tuition increases, Radford will regain roughly one-third of that amount. Likewise, JMU would see a reduction of less than 2 percent per year after raising tuition.
"We've been underfunded for a long, long time, and we appreciate what the Senate and the House are doing for the university," said David Burdette, vice president of business and governmental affairs at Radford, in a Roanoke Times article.
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