by James A. Bacon
The University of Virginia Board of Visitors approved Friday increases 3% in tuition & fees for in-state and out-of-state undergraduates for the 2024-25 and 2025-25 academic years. The precise tuition will vary, depending upon students’ in-state/out-of-state residency, undergraduate/graduate status, and the school or college they are attending. (The schedule is viewable here, pages 3 through 6.)
The vote was unanimous with the exception of one abstention. Bert Ellis said he had joined the Board with the understanding that “college expenses are too high.” Out of respect for J.J. Davis, UVa’s chief operating officer responsible for compiling the budget in an arduous process, he said, he did not vote against the increases, but he wasn’t going to vote for them either. He is putting his “stake in the ground,” he added, promising to carry on the fight against high costs and tuition in the future.
Note: This story has been updated to reflect the percentage increases approved by the Board, which had not been made explicit at the time of the Board vote and this article was posted.
The Board meeting was dominated by Davis’ presentation of a slide deck illuminating UVa’s value proposition and the challenges posed by inflation and the competition for talent.
The only substantive discussion to take place among board members was the challenge of recruiting and retaining staff and faculty. The underlying assumption of the conversation was that UVa is resource-constrained in the competition for talent, and that tuition and the endowment are the two main levers available to UVa for staying competitive.
The board action (or inaction) deserves deeper reporting, which I will provide as soon as I can.
Terribly disappointing. The BOV rolled over. I see no change whatsoever from the pre-Youngkin years.
The pressure must be stepped up.
Agree.
I wonder if the Board would consider that jettisoning most if not all of the DEI staff would free up a lot of money to help recruit “talent” of the academic/teaching variety.
Gross, and Mr. Ellis’s absention is worse than meaningless. UVA’s value proposition is belied by the photo shared by a parent on the FB grp. of her daughter’s sandwich from the dining hall which contained a Q-tip swab. There are some fundamental problems that need to be addressed. Problems that shouldn’t be on the radar of families already paying $70k/yr