Collegiate Times

Students from Virginia's four Commonwealth Universities may soon see changes in the classroom, as the Virginia General Assembly plans to release new educational funding proposals from the House and Senate within the next few weeks.Virginia21, a student-led political lobbyist organization, chaired by several student body presidents from the state's public colleges and universities, published that "the House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia (plan to) come up with their own proposed amount of funding for higher education. Sunday, Feb. 19 the House of Delegates and Senate will release their proposals. The two chambers will agree on a compromise budget proposal by Thursday, March 9" (http://www.virginia21.org/site/pp.asp?c=jqLOIVOFKrF&b=1489387)So what's fueling this fire?On Feb. 1, a group of students from the program, including three from Virginia Tech, traveled to Richmond to meet with lawmakers. Their goal was to push the "2012 Plan," a budget amendment designed last year to increase financial aid, faculty salaries and close the higher education funding gap between now and 2012.

"This plan is not an official document, but more like a recognized agreement that provides the necessary steps toward meeting our goals for higher education," said Laura Baker, communications director at Virginia21. "We are calling on our legislators to stick to this concept. Last week, when we went to Capitol Square, we presented banners to the legislators that had been on college campuses al over the state- from James Madison University to Mason for the previous week, which had over 1000 student names. This support definitely helped our lobbying efforts."Throughout the 2006 academic year, the state legislators were able to follow the budget plan. Now, unfortunately, the allocations for 2008 are threatening to shut down the progress that was seen in the beginning, so additional funds are going to be needed this year."We can help students and families avoid burdensome debt, attract and retain great professors to our institutions and help keep college affordable if we stick to the 2012 plan," said Ali M. Faruk, Virginia21 student leadership committee chairman and Virginia Commonwealth University Student Body President, in a statement at the meeting on Feb. 1.  "Thousands of Virginia's students and families are depending on legislators and their efforts to fulfill these higher education needs.  If we don't want Virginia to fall behind, we must take action this year." Still, the question is how much will it take to reach the goals of the new proposal? "We seemed to get mixed reactions from the legislators when we were in Richmond," said Emily Webb, a junior in political science at Tech and a member of the Viriniga21 student leadership committee. "I know transportation is a top budget discussion, but we need to make education, especially financial aid and our faculty, the number one priority of our state."According to the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia, "more than 40 percent of Virginia families have some amount of financial need."

Virginia21 also released some startling facts in one report, stating that "(state) schools are short $1,246 for every Virginia student at a public college or community college, (so) about $377 million statewide, (and) this funding will end up being paid in tuition increases if the state doesn't pay it." (http://www.virginia21.org/site/pp.asp?c=jqLOIVOFKrF&b=1489387)In terms of faculty salaries, the problem doesn't lie within individual universities, but with the priorities of the state as a whole. "Since the mid-1980's, the (Virginia) General Assembly declared overall faculty salaries should reach the 60th percentile of their national peers. 2006 showed Virginia still struggling to reach the fiftieth percentile." (http://www.virginia21.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=jqLOIVOFKrF&b=1488939&content_id={266B78E1-5DEC-46E0-AB4D-4530DF611B38}¬oc=1)While Tech boasts a 16:1 student to teacher ratio, if sufficient funding doesn't continue to come from the government, state schools, including Tech may lose the benefit of good teaching."I can speak for myself, classes are over-crowded at Virginia Tech. We have professors leaving all the time to go to different states because the salaries are higher," Webb said. "It's really important to keep our teachers and keep the universities of Virginia at the quality that they are now."