Statewide tuition increases at Virginia public universities, adjusted for inflation, FY 1998 to FY 2012. Image credit: JLARC
At last, an answer to a question that I have frequently posed on this blog: To what extent can tuition increases at Virginia public universities be blamed on a decline in state support for higher education? According to a new analysis by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC): about 68%.
The decline in state support doe not account, however, for the surge in student fees, which cover athletics and ancillary programs, or room and board. How much did declining state support account for the total cost of a residential college education? JLARC didn’t ask that question, but a reasonable estimate is about half.
Bacon’s bottom line: Colleges and universities have a legitimate point when they blame the escalating cost of higher education on lower state support. But they also should shoulder as much of the blame themselves, something they have been exceedingly reluctant to do.
