The cost of a public-college education is climbing across the state, with Virginia Tech yesterday becoming the latest school to raise its tuition and fees.

Following rate increases at other schools that are asking students to make up for reductions in state funding, Tech's governing board boosted tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates from $7,397 yearly to $8,198, a 10.8 percent increase. It is the biggest increase in five years.

Out-of-state undergraduates will pay $20,825 yearly, up from $19,775 and a bump of 5.3 percent.

Tech probably will not be the last Virginia school to dig deeper into students' pockets: George Mason University is set to consider a tuition increase tomorrow, the University of Mary Washington will discuss an increase Friday, the College of William and Mary will take up the topic Saturday, and Virginia Commonwealth University will consider higher rates May 16.

The pending tuition increases follow ones made at Tech, Virginia State University, Norfolk State University, Radford University, Old Dominion University, James Madison University, Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia.

University officials across Virginia said cuts in state funding forced them to increase tuition and fees. Facing a budget shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars, the General Assembly this year cut the flow of cash to universities.

"The board reluctantly approved these increases against the backdrop of erosion in state funding," Tech President Charles W. Steger said.

Five years ago, state funding to Tech dropped by $72 million, and the school saw its budget cut another $10 million this year. Tech now receives about $2,000 less per Virginia student than it did in 2000, according to university officials.

Steger said that despite the tuition increases, Tech still is a bargain: The average total cost of attending a four-year public school in Virginia, including room and board, is about $15,000 a year, while the total cost at Tech will be $13,674.

The assembly had hoped to persuade schools to keep tuition increases small this year by creating a $17.5 million pool that schools could dip into if they generally kept increases to no more than 3 percent for in-state undergraduates.

"The General Assembly's really doing its best on the one hand to mitigate the tuition increases, but on the other hand kind of compensate schools in some way," said Kirsten Nelson, spokeswoman for the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

So far, only a proposed increase of 1.8 percent at the University of Virginia's College at Wise is below the 3 percent threshold.
Contact Rex Bowman at (540) 344-3612 or rbowman@timesdispatch.com.