University of Virginia Library

Planners Seek Appropriations

State Budget Cuts Jeopardize University Quality

News Analysis

By MICHAEL GARTLAN

—Ed.)

As Virginia continues to outstrip the
national average for population growth
over the current decade, the State's
system of colleges and universities will
become increasingly hard-pressed to meet
the postsecondary educational demands
of the college age population.

In planning to meet these demands,
education planners are seeking increased
State appropriations to insure places for
Virginia residents in State institutions of
higher learning.

But despite the rapid growth of
population, State appropriations for
education have actually decreased on a
comparative basis with other states
nationwide-from 33rd in 1968 to 36th
in fiscal 1971-in per capita funds for
operating expenses.

In the current session of the General
Assembly, members of the legislative
finance committees are seeking to cut
excess appropriations from Governor
Holton's mammoth $5.2 billion State
budget.

It is only logical that the State's
current education budget, which has
increased by over 96 per cent from the
1968-70 biennium compared to only a
32.4 per cent increase in full-time
enrolled students, receive careful scrutiny
in determining allocations for 1972-74.

But in determining the University's
appropriation for 1972-74, budget
makers must not ignore the University's
highly successful efforts to cut State
education costs in Charlottesville.

In "Financing Virginia's Colleges," a
publication of the State Council of
Higher Education, the income for
Education and General Expenditures for
all Virginia state colleges and universities
was 58.1 per cent of the total.

The percentage from the State General
Fund for the University was 48.2 per
cent-the lowest of the five
Ph.D.-granting institutions in the State.

Furthermore, the University's
percentage of State support has actually
declined to its present 48.2 percent from
53.5 per cent in 1966-67, while State
support for the other four institutions has
risen, according to the State Council's
data.

The University also made the largest
contribution to its Educational and
General income from other sources than
any of the other four Ph.D.-granting
institutions.

These points were made clear in a joint
meeting on Feb. 9 of the House
Appropriations Committee and the
Senate Finance Committee by President
Edgar F. Shannon Jr. as he reviewed the
University's budget requests.

At that time, some committee
members exhibited more than the
customary hostility towards the increased
appropriation requests and hinted that
the University may have slightly more
difficulty this year in obtaining increased
funds than it has in past years.

Oddly enough, this hostility on the
part of the legislatures towards education
appropriations follows closely the release
of the results of a poll conducted by the
University's sociology department which
revealed that 45 per cent of Virginia's
residents believe that higher education
has not received enough support from the
State.

But despite these hostilities and
reductions, the University has increased
the quality of instruction through
programs and money of its own.

In a recent study by Allan M. Cartter
for the American Council on Education,
18 departments of the University's
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
were rated average for overall quality,
twice the number that was recognized in
a similar study five years ago.

According to University Provost David
M. Shannon, the primary reason for the
improvement in the quality of these
departments has been the increase in the
quality of the faculty-an improvement
resulting from the high degree of success
achieved by the Center For Advanced
Studies and the Eminent Scholars
Program, in attracting faculty to the
Grounds.

The Center For Advanced Studies
helps attract high quality faculty by
offering research grants from private
endowment funds to interested professors
who wish to undertake research projects
outside their regular duties.