Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — Recreational sports and health fees, will rise from $1,491 to $1,610. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.
ROANOKE -- The Executive Committee of Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors unanimously approved tuition increases for the 2011-12 school year Thursday.
Tech officials put the tuition increase on reduced state funding. Virginia’s funding of the university dropped $13.3 million, even after the allotment of an extra $3.4 million from Gov. Bob McDonnell.
A drop in appropriations per student was also included in a presentation to committee members.
According to university figures, funding for students dropped from $9,501 in the 2001 fiscal year to $6,163 in the 2012 fiscal year budget. Adjusted for inflation, that number for 2012 is reduced to $4,326 per student.
Tech President Charles Steger noted the challenges in acquiring state funding in a weakened economy.
“A lot will have to do with an economic recovery,” Steger said. “The governor’s intentions are good, but he faces tremendous strains on public tax dollars. We’re in competition with a lot of other priorities that are important to a lot of people.”
Among the increases is a 9.9 percent rise in full-time resident undergraduate tuition, from $8,055 to $8,852. Full-time nonresident undergraduate tuition will see a 5.3 percent increase, from $21,114 to $22,254.
On-campus resident graduate students will see their tuition go from $9,399 to $10,048, a 6.9 percent, while non-residents will see a 9.2 percent tuition spike, from $17,854 to $19,497.
Virginia and Maryland students at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine will see tuition go from $16,741 to $17,444, a 4.2 percent increase. Out-of-state students at the college will see their tuition rise 4.5 percent, from $39,201 to $40,847.
Several fees were also increased in Thursday’s vote. The comprehensive fee, which includes student activity, recreational sports and health fees, will rise from $1,491 to $1,610. Room fees will also increase between $454 and $918, based on residence hall. Board fees used for meal plans will increase $82.
The academic fee, in place since the 2004-05 school year, was contracted into the tuition rate.
Parking fees also went up on Thursday’s vote. Parking fees for resident students will increase from $189 to $225, and faculty and staff parking will increase from $220 to $225. Commuter and graduate students will see their parking fee rise from $189 to $198.
With the increased tuition also comes a boost to the university's financial aid. The committee approved an additional $1.3 million dollars for need-based financial aid, for a total of about $13.1 million. Tech's total for financial aid, which includes state and federal loans and grants, amounts to approximately $370 million.
While tuition is usually determined at the board’s scheduled meeting in March, the decision was delayed because of state budget's late release.
The committee made their vote at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. University spokesman Mark Owczarski said the meeting took place there due to the travel convenience for members.
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 22 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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wat the efffff
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my thoughts exactly!
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Wow....what a surprise. Tuition has been going up about 10% every year now since I've been in college (5 years). What I wonder is at what point will students say "this is too expensive, I can't afford it (despite aid) it's not worth it" and seek other avenues of education to get a job.
Society emphasizes a traditional "4 year" education so much that it's driven prices this high as more and more people flock to colleges.
There are other ways like 2 year degrees, training and certifications out there that you could seek at a fraction of the cost and still get a job.
Once the students stop coming, and government aid stops giving, only then will prices drop.
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Even with taking out loans, there's got to be a stopping point where too much debt right out of college is too much. Not every student would like to be $100,000 dollars in debt due to college. If I hadn't already completed 90 credits, I'd probably rethink even going to college given how expensive it is now let alone what it will be in 5 to 10 years.
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Even with taking out loans, there's got to be a stopping point where too much debt right out of college is too much. Not every student would like to be $100,000 dollars in debt due to college. If I hadn't already completed 90 credits, I'd probably rethink even going to college given how expensive it is now let alone what it will be in 5 to 10 years.
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You could also enlist in the Armed Forces.
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The armed forces are only meant for those people who are passionate about serving their country. I wouldn't want a bunch of young adults who weren't passionate about serving their country just so that they could have their college paid for!
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RIIIIIGHT, because a bunch of 18 year old girls is EXACTLY who we need out fighting our wars for us....
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The problem is not with society's emphasis on a traditional "4 year" education. The education being doled out at VT now is the same as it was 10-20 years ago. The difference is, consumer demand has driven things like 4-star restaurants on campus and suite-style dorms. Those two things, alone, cost a ton of money. Herein lies the problem. You don't get new facilities without paying for them.
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Don't forget the overly-compensated administrators here someone has to pay their salaries too.
Here's some well-known names from the Collegiate Times Database:
Charles W. Steger $457,040
James C. Weaver $425,876
Mark G. McNamee $327,937
Edward F. Spencer $190,000
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I agree that those salaries are high, but they are nothing in the grand scheme of things. The millions of dollars being put into construction to upgrade and build new facilities on campus is the real problem. In a lot of cases this work is unnecessary for VT to continue functioning.
Think of it - do you NEED to live in a suite-style dorm? Do you NEED to eat at a state of the art dining facility? Absolutely not. Those things are luxuries provided to students by Tech. As a result, tuition increases.
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Let's not forget about the million dollar salaries that we pay for our football and basketball coaches!
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Nothing quite like stopping social mobility by raising tuition to make sure only the lucky few who come from money can get a college education. Land of opportunity bahahahaha.
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"Parking fees also went up on Thursday’s vote. Parking fees for resident students will increase from $189 to $225, and faculty and staff parking will increase from $220 to $225. Commuter and graduate students will see their parking fee rise from $189 to $198."
...So students are going to be paying as much as they would for a faculty/staff permit now? That doesn't seem right. Why pay as much but get less privileges let alone not even a space to park sometimes because the parking lots are so full.
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I agree it doesn't seem right to pay the same as staff. But don't think staff have reserved parking either. The only people who can park anywhere they want and not worry about a ticket are the ones on "the list" (the Prez, VP's and Provost).
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I have a few for you:
1. Ride the bus that you already pay for in student fees (and don't purchase a commuter pass)
2. Walk (and don't purchase a commuter pass)
3. Park in another lot (i.e. the duck pond overflow)
The university has to jack up its parking prices to cover the cost of the new parking deck, as well as more parking decks to come (and they are for sure coming). With respect to the F/S/C/G parking passes, they raise the cost the way they see fit. If you don't like it or don't think it's fair, don't buy a parking pass. It's that simple.
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So when all the buses are full and pass by 3/4 of the stops on its route what are we supposed to do then? I'm curious for your answer to this one...
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Try numbers 2 or 3 from the previous post
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Anon: Leave fifteen minutes earlier and get on an empty bus.
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I agree. If a commuter pass is going to cost the same as a faculty/staff pass then I sure as hell better be able to park in that first row like their pass allows!
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well isn't that just great. So now on top of the probably 5 parking tickets that parking services will somehow figure out how to give me i can pay $200 for a pass that allows me to park in the last row of every lot.
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I pay $200 a month to park my car in real life. That is the price of a car. Suck it up an pay it, or use an alternative.
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Just like the old sayin' "you can't get blood from a stone"
Inflation is way up, state funding is way down, belts have been tightened as much as possible without losing expected quality.
What else is there to do but raise tuition? I'd say plan for this to be the norm until state funding returns (if ever?).
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yet steger makes 457,000
...that's more than the president of the U.S.
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/databases/salaries/virginia-tech?name=steger
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Don't forget the $$$ he gets from the VT Foundation, free house, cars, etc. I even heard he gets a percentage from all the vending machines on campus for his slush fund! But of course he's like a CEO, I guess we are lucky he doesn't get millions like the football coach.
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Beamer gets ~$272K in salary from the university. Anything else he receives does not come from the state (i.e. not from your tuition money).
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Steger has degrees in architecture. Have you seen the economy right now, not a single building going up anywhere. If he were the CEO of an architecture firm he'd have long been laid off by now.
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If he were CEO of an architectural firm, he'd have laid off half of his employees now, but he would still have a job.
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That is a sick joke! You would think this guy is the next Edison with that kind of a salary!
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My vote: You can't charge $225 to residents when, at least my year on campus, Parking Services never plowed spots, causing dozens if not hundreds to have cars stuck in the snow. Commuters going up to $198 (a fancy way of saying $200).. Again, today it's not worth that. Put some sensors in the garage and under parking spots, and I'd pay >$350 for a permit on a campus that'll let me look and see where the free spots are immediately on my phone.
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...while you're driving. What a great idea. Stare down at your phone while you're driving looking for a spot.
The parking fees are a result of the new garages being put in (a result of supply and demand). Bringing a car to Tech is anything BUT a necessity. Don't just %*$ch about it - don't bring your car if you don't like it or pick another school. But chances are, you're going to be paying at LEAST $225 for the year! Take the University of Delaware, for example. Parking there costs between $220 and $660 a SEMESTER.
Quit your whining.
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Man, I hate feeding forum trolls who won't even put their names on their comments, and pop on to a thread just to be all angry. But, I'll explore this one, primarily for anyone else's benefit.
First, it is in fact possible to pull off of the road while looking at one's phone for a spot. For me, when I come in from Price's Fork, there's a great pull off by the campus map on West Campus dr.
Second, "Don't just %*$ch about it".. CT, I'm all about free speech, but not allowing anonymous comments would really help with some of these people..
Third, when did I say parking on campus was a necessity? When did I say that I must be able to do it, and for a reasonable price? Please, quote me. Let me know.
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Finally, where did I actually whine about the parking situation? I know those people that just whine, and instead, I strived to offer a reasonable alternative. Using sensors so that even though there's not convenient parking, people can rely on a system that allows them to quickly find a spot, so that they don't have to go to the convenient lot, poke around for a bit, then continue out to less and less convenient spots. They can just go to where they know an open spot is.
Instead of whining, I offered a possible solution. An innovative one (that I think San Fran did a year ago? Don't quote me on that though) that I do believe embodies how we, at VT, strive to make life easier for the community by inventing the future (much like the bus tracker).
If it came off as whiny, I apologize. If you just like to troll around and call people names, making rasch assumptions about what they said, then cheers, seeya never.
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My name is Alex, too. Do you think you are the only person in the world entitled to have that name?
And nobody's pulling over their car to look at their phone you fool.
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...and here is an example of you whining about the parking situation:
"You can't charge $225 to residents when, at least my year on campus, Parking Services never plowed spots, causing dozens if not hundreds to have cars stuck in the snow."
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If they did that the price of a parking pass would be $500! Not to mention you would probably crash your car.
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Colleges like VT are in a perfect world. If the state drops funding, the school simply ups tuition. When they say they are in line with other schools guess what? That's because ALL colleges do the exact same thing. State funds down = tuition up. What about the $1 Billion Dollars raised in the Capital Campaign? I'll bet you anything that less than 1% goes to offset tuition. Its a business folks, it is marketing a product. Nothing else.
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Which is why I say, it will only change when students stop going to college or only the wealthy top 5% of students can afford college. I wonder when that point will be. Will the average student debt out of college in this country reach $100,000 before changes are made?
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the board of visitors should stop approving construction of unnecessary things so they stop spending money for a few years, instead of hurting the students by increasing tuition.
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Agreed, such as the unnecessary hibachi dining hall they are currently building. Who has time to wait half an hour for their food?!
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the board of visitors should stop approving construction of unnecessary things so they stop spending money for a few years, instead of hurting the students by increasing tuition.
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Public universities, like Virginia Tech, need to stop spending money like there's no tomorrow. Students aren't asking for new basketball practice facilities, new honors dorms or new dining halls. Any student who comes to VT for those things probably shouldn't be there. Lord knows it's not the professors who are raking in the dough. Public universities are running the show, the way mortgage companies, banks, credit card companies and oil companies have run themselves amok; only public universities are still doing whatever they want. Keep building and keep accepting more students than you can provide housing and reasonable class schedules for...it seems to be working for you. Just pass your extra expenses on to your student-consumers - the ones who can't even get a ticket to their university's basketball or football games. Shame on you, VT et al!
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Any athletic salary or building is being paid for by the hokie club with a few exceptions. For example, Beamer gets paid a couple hundred grand from the school, but is paid 2 million by the hokie club. So people need to stop using athletics as an example.
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