Virginia legislature makes moves to keep tuition down

Virginia’s General Assembly hopes to address rising college tuition costs by offering public universities incentives to cap tuition rates and ensuring that the public can comment on proposed tuition increases.

State budget amendments proposed by the House Appropriations Committee include an additional $45 million in funding for universities that decide not to raise tuition.

Under the proposal, each university that freezes tuition rates for the year would receive a share of the $45 million. Large universities, like Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia, would receive $5 million to $6 million in extra funding.

Del. David Reid, D-Loudoun, proposed HB 2476 last month to cap tuition increases for institutions that have raised their tuition more than the state average over the preceding 10 years. His bill was killed Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee.

Reid, who has been working on college affordability for the past two years, expressed hope rather than disappointment and said the budget proposal is a step in the right direction.

"There are different ways to approach [college affordability], and the members of the Appropriations Committee took a different approach," Reid said. "It may be that they already had this in the works, but I'm glad that we've at least gotten partially a good solution for the students and families of Virginia."

Reid applauded his colleagues and their efforts toward affordable higher education but said more needs to be done.

"I'm really pleased that we have this one-year solution in place, and it acknowledges that we as a state need to do more to make sure college remains affordable," Reid said. "However, so long as universities can opt out, this agreement does not go far enough. I'll continue to seek solutions that work for Virginia families."

In the Senate, Sen. J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax, also has introduced legislation to help families with the rising cost of college. SB 1118, the "Tuition Transparency Act," would require universities to inform the public of any proposed increase in undergraduate tuition or mandatory fees and allow for public comment. Petersen’s bill passed the Senate unanimously Tuesday and was referred to the House Committee on Education.

"I'm about transparency. Period," Petersen said. "Here at the General Assembly, and in towns and cities across Virginia, public officials are required to have public meetings prior to increasing your taxes. Tuition shouldn't be any different."