The check you may cut for college each year is likely more expensive than the last. Both major party candidates for governor in Virginia say it’s important to keep costs down, but also predictable. They have different ideas about how to do that.
Democrat Ralph Northam is suggesting something he calls a “four year promise.” It’s a guarantee that tuition won’t change for a student’s four years of undergrad. William and Mary already does something similar.
“We’re telling them in advance -- this is what it’s going to cost you as a freshman, but also what it’s going to cost you for the next four years,” explains William and Mary’s Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration, Sam Jones.
But in order to guarantee the same rate for each incoming class, William and Mary has to hedge its bets -- meaning slightly higher tuition.
“You’re seeing a higher sticker price, but then you’re able to say, early on, ‘Is that William and Mary degree going to be worth that or not?’” Jones says.
The program is also feasible because more than 80-percent of students at William and Mary graduate within four years, though the statewide average is much lower. The four-year promise also doesn’t address student fees, another culprit in rising costs.
Republican Ed Gillespie is proposing something different to stabilize prices, a savings account schools can tap into during tough budget years.
“That could be beneficial to control some of the ups and downs that we see in tuition, and in general fund reductions, that we’ve experienced over the last several years,” says Peter Blake, director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
Virginia already has a rainy day account that lawmakers can pull from for any state agency, including higher education.
And while the idea of a college-specific account has made its way through the legislature before, lawmakers have never chosen to fund it.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
