A Tax Cut or Better Higher Education– Which do Rural Virginians Need More?

Governor Youngkin claims that Virginia’s current budget surplus means that Virginians should get a big tax cut.  But what else could we do with that budget surplus that might benefit average Virginians more than a tax cut?  How about making our higher education system more affordable and more accessible to everyone?

Because the truth is that Virginia woefully underfunds its community colleges and state universities relative to other states.  In fact, Virginia ranks 44th of all states in its per student funding of two-year colleges! At $5,000 per student, it is well below the national average of $8,000. It’s neighboring states, even West Virginia, are all above or near the national average. As a result, community college tuitions in Virginia are as much as 40% higher.  No surprise that enrollment has declined in recent years.

Virginia state universities meanwhile, despite their public mandate, are in fact catering mostly to upper income and out-of-state students.   Indeed, only 11-14% of students at top schools like UVA and William and Mary receive Pell grants, meaning these schools have very low admissions from students in families from areas like our own. That is one of the lowest rates for public universities anywhere in the country.  Why?  In large part because state universities are underfunded by the state legislature (only 83% of the national average).  Thus, they have to make up the difference by accepting more higher paying, out-of-state students.

For wealthy Virginians, of course, this is no big deal.  They send their kids to expensive private schools anyway, so they would rather pocket the tax cuts and leave our educational institutions underfunded.  Is that is why so many Republican politicians are pushing for tax cuts?  

For average Virginians, however, the result is that their kids just don’t have the same educational opportunities as the wealthy do. 

So rather than playing politics with the state surplus, shouldn’t Youngkin be pushing for more funding to increase affordability and access to higher education?