The University Board of Visitors last Friday approved a new financial aid program that officials hope will level the playing field for all undergraduate students and lessen their debts after college. The plan, Access UVa, is slated to come to fruition over the next four years, with anticipated funds of $16 million. In Access UVa, the Board and the administration have designed a commendable plan that seeks to create a University representative of the entire Commonwealth, giving anyone who merits the opportunity a chance to attend this school.
The details of Access UVa speak volumes about the perceptiveness of the administration in recognizing the many obstacles that students face in their desire to get the best education possible. Lower-income students often have to shop around for financial aid packages and might pass up the University, even if it is their first choice, to attend a school that better fulfills their economic needs. Continuing a policy that began with the entering class of 2001, Access UVa will satisfy all need-based financial aid for both in-state and out-of-state undergraduates. In addition, students whose families fall beneath 150 percent of the poverty line will have their loans replaced with grants. The plan also calls for caps on the amount of debt a student can accrue along with financial counseling for their families.
The merits of Access UVa are well worth the millions of dollars being put into it. While in an ideal world, attending the University would be a feasible goal for everyone who so desired, the fact of the matter is that tuition, especially for out-of-state students, remains a restrictive consideration in selecting a college. We can all agree that money shouldn't be a deciding factor in the pursuit of higher education, and Access UVa addresses that problem by assuring that students who have the motivation and credentials to attend the University will be able to do so.
Another invaluable benefit that Access UVa will bring to the University, which was clearly in the minds of its creators, is diversity. The University is a public school, and as such, has the theoretical constituency of all the state. From our everyday interactions, we know Virginia's population contains a wide range of races and classes. With Access UVa, financial concerns should no longer cause enrollment to consist of an overly homogenous upper and middle class. Eliminating monetary restrictions will go a long way to introducing a de facto system of achieving diversity by reaching across socioeconomic barriers. Socioeconomic diversity is in many senses more desirable than just racial diversity, for it encompasses people from all walks of life, including, but not limited to, race.
If, however, the administration wants to make the extra effort to guarantee a racially and economically diverse University, Access UVa should become a program beyond the undergraduate level, in particular at the Law School. The self-sufficient Law School does not receive any funds from the state, other than a $2,500 contribution for each enrolled in-state student, and to compensate, its tuition mirrors that of its private school counterparts. The school has seen a dramatic decline in black enrollment, a trend which is most likely caused by the prospective financial burden that students face. Extending Access UVa to the Law School, therefore, would bring in a more diverse class and perhaps make the practice of affirmative action, which many find so repugnant, less necessary.
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