The cost of a higher education at public institutions has shifted from the state to families during recent years, Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget, said Thursday afternoon in a meeting with student leaders. The Board of Visitors will convene Friday in a special session to consider a proposed four percent tuition increase for the 2012-13 academic year.
"People say the cost of education has gone up, but really it hasn't," Sheehy said.
Sheehy said as the state has decreased funding for higher education, the University has had to raise both out-of-state and in-state students' tuition to try to narrow the resource gap.
Out-of-state undergraduates will see their tuition rise to $38,018 next year from $36,570 this year if the Board passes the proposal, and in-state students will pay $12,006, increasing from $11,576 this year.
"If you're an out-of-state student, you've been carrying the burden," Sheehy said.
The University must consider these tuition increases while also recognizing Gov. Bob McDonnell's goal to confer an additional 100,000 undergraduate degrees in Virginia, said Melody Bianchetto, assistant vice president for budget and financial planning.
"The [University] President [Teresa A. Sullivan] said, 'If the state isn't going to support growth of in-state students, we're not going to do it,'" Bianchetto said, but added the state has indicated it will support college enrollment growth in its upcoming budget.
Sheehy said the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill is a cheaper option than the University for an in-state Virginian who comes from a family with a total annual income of $70,000 because the University of North Carolina would award these students more financial aid to offset the out-of-state tuition costs. She said only 34 percent of University students qualify for federal financial aid, compared to 75 to 80 percent at other schools.
The tuition differential for the Commerce School will also increase with the new proposal, rising 9.8 percent for in-state undergraduates - a jump of $1,400 - and 6.2 percent for out-of-state undergraduates. Tuition for the Commerce School will total $16,006 in-state and $42,018 out-of-state if the Board approves the plan today.
Bianchetto said a four percent increase was the lowest tuition increase in the past 10 years.
"We do have a fairly affluent student body at U.Va.," she said. "As we transition to [the new financial] model, we'll continue to look at tuition differentials and what they mean"
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