The Virginia House of Delegates is currently considering several bills affecting the percentage of in-state students a public university must enroll to receive funding from the commonwealth. One bill would set the percentage at 70, and another proposes to increase in-state enrollment by 1.3 percent each year until it is 80 percent of the student body. These measures remove control of admissions from public universities, which has the potential to harm a university’s academic standing. In the long run it is in the best interest of the University to be able to determine the makeup of its student body — as it has been doing thus far.
Currently in-state students comprise 69 percent of all University undergraduate students. At Virginia public universities the majority of students should come from the commonwealth, and the University has done an excellent job of selecting its student body using the current policies. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University second among public institutions in the United States, and the University of California Berkeley — ranked number one — only enrolls 8 percent of its undergraduate student body from out of state. Since California has more than 36.4 million people, the quality of the student body does not suffer at Berkeley although in-state students make up almost the entire school.
Virginia only has about 7.6 million residents. Though many Virginia residents are highly qualified, a smaller in-state applicant pool means the student body benefits from a greater percentage of out-of-state students. University spokesperson Carol Wood stated in an e-mail, “A broader cross-section of students from around the country and around the world makes for a richer educational experience.” The University should not be forced to decrease out-of-state enrollment as this will negatively affect its academic standing over time.
Another consideration is the cost of increasing in-state enrollment. According to Wood, “out-of-state students pay 150 percent of the costs of their education, effectively subsidizing in-state students.” It is strange the Virginia House of Delegates would consider increasing the burden on itself at this time of economic hardship. Decreasing the proportion of out-of-state students by 10 percent would have a negative impact on the University’s finances. The University competes with some of the best schools in the country for students and professors. It will not be able to maintain its current level of competitiveness if it is forced to reduce its budget so drastically.
For the University to maintain its high level of academic credibility, out-of-state students should continue to be a significant part of the student body. The University has been able to recruit outstanding students and maintain a large proportion of in-state students without oversight from Richmond. The proposed increases to in-state enrollment would limit the ability of the University to maintain and improve its academic standing and should not be passed by the House of Delegates.
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