The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia presented a special addendum resolution at its meeting Tuesday detailing a recommendation for an increase in commonwealth funding for financial aid at colleges and universities.
Lee Andes, SCHEV assistant director of financial aid, said one part of the three-part recommendation would contribute an additional $58.7 million in state-funded financial aid to undergraduate public institutions - $19.9 million by 2011 and another $38.8 million by 2012. This increase in funding earmarked for student support would help make up for declines in state funding for higher education institutions, Andes said, and would also aid in compensating for steadily rising tuition rates.
Yvonne Hubbard, University director of financial services, noted that the amount of state funding available for financial aid has been declining for a number of years and has not been able to keep pace with students' tightening monetary situations. Fifteen years ago, she said, the University received 20 percent of its funding for financial aid from the commonwealth, but that percentage has since been slashed in half. Consequently, the University has been increasingly forced to rely on private sources and giving campaigns to supply students with their need-based packages.
At the same time, however, a "significant increase" in the number of students eligible for Pell Grants this year reinforces the idea that "there is a real need for more money," Andes said, emphasizing that colleges and universities now more than ever need state funding for student financial support.
Last year, 1,275 University students were eligible to receive Pell grants, Hubbard said, whereas this year, the preliminary numbers indicate a 20 percent increase to 1,511 Pell-eligible students. Moreover, the percentage of University students receiving financial aid has increased from 27 percent last year to more than 30 percent this year, a figure Hubbard said she believes will continue to rise.
Colette Sheehy, University vice president for management and budget, said SCHEV annually takes into consideration the financial needs of all students enrolled in Virginia higher education institutions, establishing a current goal of $233.4 million in state-funded financial aid for all colleges and universities. The commonwealth currently supplies only around 61 percent of this intended total to Virginia institutions, however, or $128 million.
If the General Assembly were to adopt SCHEV's recommendation, it would raise the percentage of appropriations to institutions from 61 percent to 70 percent throughout the next four years, Sheehy said, giving the University more money to fund student financial aid packages. She estimated that should the resolution pass, "by the end of the fourth year U.Va. would get $823,000 more than it has today."
She also noted, however, that state funding is but a fraction of the University's current overall budget, and so the actual effect of any increase might be slight.
"It's the smallest amount compared to what we put in from our institutional sources like tuition and federal government," she said.
The actual amount of additional financial aid funding allocated to Virginia higher education institutions, if any, will not be known until Virginia's budget bill is signed in spring 2010, Andes said. Such an increase in state support would have to be approved by the General Assembly and could face opposition from more conservative members considering the commonwealth's projected budgetary deficits.
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