Report: U-Va Should Be a Private University

charlieschm
Mon, 16 Sep 2013 15:49:00 +0000

The state is providing about $140 million a year to UVa’s academic division.

To make up that difference with the current number of students, UVa would need to generate a net increase (after UVa aid) of $17,500 in additional tuition from each of 8,000 students, or $14,000 additional net tuition from each of 10,000 students.

(Personally, I believe the out of state tuition is already maxed out at $40 to $45K a year, so this increase would all fall on seats currently held by Virginia residents. The state funding now mainly subsidizes in-state tuition rates for undergrads. I believe most grad/prof programs either pay market rate tuition or are funded through other sources. For example, the med school is subsidized by the Medical Center, and Law Students receive little in-state tuition reduction).

To generate an average of $14,000 of net revenue, you probably would need to increase the sticker price of in-state tuition by $20,000 (assuming that UVa continues to provide need-based aid).

Or, at a 5% return, UVa could magically increase their endowment by $2.8 billion to make up the difference.

To a certain extent, we need to stop complaining about how things used to be. The state of Virginia is never going to provide the same level of funding per student that they provided in the 1990s, but the state funding is still critical and appreciated.