Will generate $6.6 million to help offset state budget cuts
Tuition surcharge set at $385

Staff Report

University of Virginia students will pay an additional $385 next semester to help cover $16 million in new state budget cuts, U.Va. President John T. Casteen III announced at a budget briefing on Wednesday.

“We are trying to prevent severe short-and long-term damage to the University’s core academic programs and to meet our obligations to enrolled students,” he said.
The surcharge, which applies to all students, including U.Va.’s Darden, law and medical schools, will generate $6.6 million in revenue.

“We are committed to meeting the financial need that the surcharge may create for undergraduates and graduate students,” Casteen said, “and so we have allocated about $725,000 to financial aid.” $5.9 million will be used to protect core academic programs.

In the current fiscal year, cuts to the University’s general fund (tax) appropriation now total $41.9 million. Tuition increases effective this fall, which produced $12.1 million, combined with the new surcharge, will offset $18 million of those cuts.

Including the surcharge, Virginia undergraduates will pay $4,980 in tuition and required fees this year. The total for out-of-state students will be $20,190.

Leonard W. Sandridge, U.Va.’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, noted that no one expects the state budget problems to be short-lived, so careful planning for the future is essential. “We are looking hard at the way we do business, both to be even more efficient and to reduce our dependence on state funds,” he said.

The University has already acted to reduce its operating costs by $23.9 million this year, with specific reduction plans for all schools and other units currently undergoing review and approval. Additional savings for next year must be identified, Sandridge said, because the state has already announced cuts totaling $51.6 million for the 2003-04 fiscal year.

The University’s Board of Visitors approved a tuition surcharge in concept last month, with an accompanying requirement that any financial need it created be met. Rector John P. Ackerly III and William H. Goodwin Jr., chair of the finance committee, approved the administration’s specific proposal after the state announced further budget cuts in mid-October.

Both an ad hoc assembly of professors and the University’s student newspaper had earlier endorsed increasing tuition as a necessary step to preserve academic quality.