Cathy Crowson at William and Mary has just provided me with a valuable factual corrective to yesterday’s post where I said that Virginia’s selective universities were always included in the “Public Ivies” and not the “Best Bargains.” She notes that Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine ranks Wiliam and Mary 3rd, the University of Virginia 4th and three other public universities in Virginia (Virginia Tech, Mary Washington and James Madison) in its top 25 for Best Value. Her point is well-taken. While the tuition at Virginia’s selective public universities is higher at the undergraduate level than in most southern states, our schools are considered an excellent value by national magazines because the cost is still far less expensive than other similarly selective universities (many of these private) around the country. I appreciate the information that she has provided and have revised the post to reflect this.
I doubt, however, that this will have much impact on the legislators who want to allocate more slots for Virginia undergraduates in the state’s most selective universities. My sense is that it is likely to reinforce their point of view. The fact that national magazines are telling out-of-state students from around the country that Virginia schools are a bargain (compared to Wlliams, Washington University, Brown, etc) could well make them even more emphatic in their belief that our most selective public universities should be more open to Virginians.
Lacey Putney, Chair of the Appropriations Committee, said yesterday that he agrees with the “intent” of the bill, but has not fully studied its fiscal impact. I believe that budgetary concerns about the effect of mandating a higher percentage of Virginians in our most selective universities may prevent the implementation of these proposals this session. But I do not think that these concerns are sufficient to permanently remove the matter from the political agenda, especially given the level of concern that northern Virginia legislators hear from their constituents.
Anyone who had a child in high school during the last five years recognizes the near madness of the college admission process at selective universities, both public and private, as students from around the world compete for a limited number of slots.
Politically speaking, however, a debate over access to highly selective universities that provide graduates with a perceived economic premium is just the kind of issue that a 21st Century knowledge-based economy is likely to generate.
Leave a Reply