Virginia21, a lobbying organization for higher education visited the state capitol on Wednesday January 5 in order to lobby for higher education. Among these activists were representatives from every public school in the state, including Longwood University. The main priority of the day was to get 25 million dollars more in financial aid for students over the next 2 years. For the budget of the 2015 fiscal year, the state budgeted $14.2 million, but in order to “run in place” funding needs to be at $19.5 million for 2015 and almost $34 million for 2016.
With this massive cut in funding, Longwood has started to participate in the #StopTheDrop campaign. This campaign is to help get the required funding needed in order to keep college tuition from going up. The campaign includes Google hangouts, lobbying, and a petition to spread the word to #StopTheDrop.
Cuts in financial aid are nothing new. Current support for the Virginia Student Financial aid Program (VSFAP) only covers 36.6 percent of tuition and fees needed. As recent as 2009-10, VSFAP covered 61 percent, but with continued periods of stagnant wages and below average job growth combined, this program is experiencing a significant slide. Proponents of increasing financial aid have stated that there are much more important investments that must be made. Virginia21 says that, “higher education is one of the smartest investments a state can make. Investment in higher education generates economic growth and generates tremendous amounts of tax revenue.” In a study done on the economic impact of higher education, results showed that for every dollar invested in higher education, the result is $17.40 in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and $1.29 in new state tax revenue. Virginia’s yearly investment in higher education results in 131,00 news jobs and 2.1 billion in tax revenue.
While some may oppose any increases in spending, both sides of the aisle see the importance of keeping college affordable. Governor Terry McAuliffe campaigned on the importance of keeping higher education affordable, saying, “This is a big deal. We have huge challenges to face on a global level and keeping college affordable is the first step.”
Along with the global challenge, the governor said, “I cannot help grow business without helping financial aid and keeping college affordable … access to higher education is a huge deal to me, it starts with pre-k so that everyone has the access to an education that they so rightfully deserve.”
With Virginia’s constitution having an amendment requiring a balanced budget, finding the money for an increase for financial aid is the main obstacle in the way. McAuliffe had an idea of how Virginia could find more money to fund financial aid. This idea comes from a newly implemented national law. “Another way we can get more money for financial aid is by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It is the law and there is no sense in denying it any longer. By expanding Medicaid, $1 billion will be saved; we will net $1 billion from the Federal Reserve. That money can go to help keep college affordable and help with financial aid … I am a business man. You are telling me we can expand health coverage to thousands of Virginians for free and net $1 billion? That is a no brainer to me,” said McAuliffe.
On the other side of the aisle, Majority Leader of the House of Delegates, Republican Kirk Cox, said, “I do think financial aid is a big deal, but I think affordability for student’s period is an issue as well.” Delegate Cox also said, “If it doesn’t stay affordable, we are going to price so many students out of the market and they will not have the opportunity to aspire to the dreams that they want to. You simply cannot come out of college with 25,000-30,000 of debt. Even in the more lucrative professions such as the medical professions, it takes such a long time to free yourself of that debt that you are really not earning a living per say for many, many years.” In order to keep college affordable, Cox said that colleges and universities need to think outside the box even if it is controversial. “Where do we want to be in ten years? Currently students pay about 70-80 percent of students fees to inter-collegiate athletics but only 3 percent participate. Is that were we want to be in 10 years? Schools should ask if they can afford intercollegiate division athletics, they should ask how they can fund it other than through student fees; whether that is through alumni and private donations.”
It seems that both Republicans and Democrats have found some common ground when it comes to higher education. With the bill scheduled to go through a vote in the coming weeks, students who rely on financial aid will soon see if their cost goes up.
