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CNU Increases Costs of Education: The University Raises Tuition and Fees for the Next School Year for in-State Undergraduates.

Posted on: Saturday, 22 April 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Angela Forest, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

Apr. 22--NEWPORT NEWS -- The price of a college education in Virginia continues to climb as most public schools this month have raised tuition, fees, room and board for next school year.

School officials say they need to increase costs to recover from years of reduced state money and restrictions on their ability to raise tuition. In response, some students have taken on jobs, and parents are borrowing more money.

On Friday, the boards at the College of William and Mary and Christopher Newport University increased tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates by $712 and $634, respectively.

At CNU, junior Jennifer Richardson said she knows why officials would bump up expenses. She spoke while standing near two ongoing projects to upgrade the campus library and create a new student center.

However, she said, "Sometimes it gets out of line because it's really expensive to go to college."

A full-time student from Hampton, Richardson works part time.

Her parents now pay for her tuition and fees, but they've asked her to contribute more toward bills, such as her car insurance.

It seems as charges go up, "financial aid is getting less and less," Richardson said.

CNU board member Jay Joseph expressed the same concern during a meeting leading up to the board's final vote on raising tuition.

"We have one of the lower financial aid budgets in state," said Joseph, who attributed that to CNU being the youngest state university.

"We have to be very careful that we don't overprice ourselves," Joseph said.

While student demand for federal financial aid has gone down each year, CNU officials say people are borrowing more money for college. Parents borrowed nearly $13 million in loans this year, said Maribeth Trun, university comptroller.

The average student debt for Virginia students pursuing a bachelor's degree mirrors the national average of $10,041, studies show.

In 2005, the General Assembly directed the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to conduct a study to see if college expenses kept some students from attending four-year public and private colleges. The council, which develops guidelines for public and private colleges, found that Virginia students pay more than students in its "peer states" of Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota.

The study also showed that the state's community colleges are more affordable than those in peer states.

In reviewing how much of a family's income goes toward college expenses, the study showed that "the burden on students from the lowest income levels is significantly greater" than middle- and upper-class students.

College presidents and administrators say they want to keep their schools affordable, but they also need to maintain buildings, hire qualified faculty and expand course offerings and internships, among other goals.

In Virginia, public colleges have created six-year plans, which include how they would pay for their operations using different funding scenarios. The agreement should give schools a better idea of how much money they can expect from the state and give students and parents a better sense of any future increases, said Bob Fenning, Old Dominion University's vice president for administration and finance.

For example, ODU expects tuition and fees to rise between 4 percent and 6 percent annually over the next six years, Fenning said. "If the state meets it's obligations to higher education," said CNU President Paul Trible, "then we will be able to moderate future price increases."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

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Source: Daily Press

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