University President Teresa Sullivan opposed Gov. Bob McDonnell's budget limiting the amount of money the University could take from in-state tuition to pay for need-based financial aid at the Virginia Senate Finance Committee's Education Subcommittee meeting last week.
McDonnell spokesperson Jeff Caldwell said the cap was part of McDonnell's attempt to slow the rising cost of tuition for Virginia residents, which has doubled in the past 10 years.
"Tuitions cannot just continue to rise," Caldwell said.
Michael Strine, University vice president and chief operating officer, said the cost of a University education, adjusted for inflation, has remained the same since 1980.
The University is working to make college more affordable for "middle-income" students not assisted by federal programs, Sullivan said in her statement at the Subcommittee meeting.
"All of us need to have a conversation about how to fund financial aid," Sullivan said. "The language in the budget prematurely curtails that conversation by restricting the use of tuition for financial aid."
Strine said the University is working to control costs and make college more affordable for those in need of financial assistance.
"We have expressed willingness to engage with the state in a thorough discussion of pricing and access, as well as to hold constant the percentage of in-state tuition used for financial aid in the intervening period while that larger discussion occurs," Strine said in an email,
McDonnell has been working with universities across Virginia to allocate $100 million in higher education funding to create "100,000 new degrees" in Virginia in the next 15 years, Caldwell said.
Caldwell said McDonnell has worked closely with the presidents of public and private universities to continue state investments in higher education, while simultaneously controlling rising costs.
The University, however, has noticed a substantial drop in state assistance for students during the past decade, Strine said.
"In a context of declining state support, the University of Virginia is receiving less in tuition and state support to educate an in-state undergraduate student on an inflation-adjusted basis today than it was in 1989-90," Strine said in his email.
The University has the third-highest in-state tuition among Virginia schools behind the Virginia Military Institute, at $13,184, and William and Mary, at $13,132, according to a report released in July of last year by the State Council on Higher Education. The report put the cost of attending the University at around $2,000 more than the average in-state four-year institution.
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