January 28, 2009
Dave Albo’s Learning Tax
Dave Albo Hates Smart People
According to the Charlottesville Daily Progress, Fairfax GOP Delegate Dave Albo has introduced legislation to force Virginia universities to charge out-of-state tuition to students who take more than 4 years to graduate or earn above 120 credits. His goal is to move students through the universities more quickly in order to create more slots for Northern Virginia students. The legislation, if passed, would require Virginia universities to increase in-state enrollment by 1.3% a year until in-state students compose 80% of the student body.
Of course, since he failed to do his homework, its worth noting that the University of Virginia requires you to complete your undergraduate degree in 4 years. Students who don’t must engage in an endless round of appeals and are eventually transferred to the School of Continuing Education, where they pay by the credit.
Albo also doesn’t seem to realize that the $28,000 in out-of-state tuition paid by 1/3 of the UVA student body covers a significant portion of the cost to educate the 2/3 of in-state student who pay a third of that amount. Albo wants to require state universities to increase their percentage of in-state students by 1.3% a year until they reach 80% in-state enrollment. Because kids from Northern Virginia, who already attend the best secondary schools in the state, in the only school districts in the state to receive subsidies from the state government, don’t have access to a quality education. Of course, the bigger issue is how universities such as UVA are supposed to be able to afford to enroll 80% in-state students when Richmond cuts funding to higher education every year. If 15% of the UVA student body is suddenly paying $20,000 less a year in tuition and the state won’t make up the funding difference, those new Northern Virginia college students are soon going to discover that they will be paying out-of-state tuition to complete their college degrees since the university didn’t have enough funding to offer all the classes needed to graduate in 4 years.
The other side effect of Albo’s proposed legislation is to discourage college students from expanding their horizons and enrolling in classes non-essential to their degree program. Students whose tuition will more than double if they go over 120 credits have to incentive to take a couple of 18-credit-hour semesters to branch out and learn more about photography or chemistry or German history. Don’t bother with high school dual enrollment classes or AP tests – those transfer credits will only require your parents to spend an extra $20,000 so you can complete your degree. Albo’s imposing a learning tax on intellectually curious students and over-achievers. Way to foster an atmosphere of excellence in the commonwealth.
Aimee said,
January 28, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Thanks for this post–as someone who went into school with a year’s worth of AP credits and had to take over 15 credit hours a semester, I would have had to be charged under this plan (at least the way I read it) starting my third year of school. Are we telling students now that if they have advanced credit that they may need to graduate in 2 years or pay? We can expect the brightest students in the state to start looking at more out of state and private options if this happens.