I don't know much about this, and perhaps a reader can enlighten me if this is a proper use of funds, but it seems unfair that the General Assembly could pass a bill requiring public institutions of higher education to deposit part of student fees paid to the universities to be deposited in the state's bank account. According to
The Roanoke Times yesterday:
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A little-known provision in former Gov. Tim Kaine's final budget bill currently working its way through the General Assembly proposes something unheard of in higher education: taking a portion of mandatory student fees paid to universities and depositing that money in the state's bank account.... "This is completely different from taking general fund money [away]. This is private student money never intended to go to the state that the state is taking," said Steven Jones, executive director of Virginia21, a Richmond-based youth advocacy group. "It's a matter of the public trust."
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I know how desperate the state is for revenue, but I would be upset if my kids were in college and I thought I was paying a fee for a specified use and it turned out that it was not even being retained by the college. It's not as if our universities have not already been cut
to the bone. We are supposed to do not just a good job, but an outstanding job educating our young people for the 21st century while teaching positions have been cut, cutting-edge facilities have not been built, fees have increased, and college services have been cut. This may not affect everyone in the state directly right now, but we are doing a poor job of preparing for the future health of our state's economy. We need first-rate colleges turning out the next generation with first-rate educations who will be able to solve the problems faced by all Virginians.