The move to "Charter" UVA, William and Mary and Virginia Tech is moving us into uncharted waters. While university officials claim it allows them to make up the shortfall from state government funding it raises more questions than it answers. Classified employees are left in the dark regarding wages and benefits. Students and parents face "market forces" that will inevitably cause tuition to skyrocket and encourage more high paying out-of-state students.

While this effort has been billed as public education with private funding, it ceases to be truly public if only the ultra wealthy can afford to go.

The obvious answer is for the Commonwealth of Virginia to meet it's obligation in higher education funding. Government has always been about setting priorities. In the early 1990's Virginia made the decision to put it's money into prisons. In the late 1990's Virginia made another decision to reimburse localities for the tax they charge on automobiles. It is interesting to me that this last item now amounts to 900 million dollars a year---about the amount Virginia is underfunding it's college and university system.

Chartering the three premiere universities in Virginia will undoubtedly raise additional money, but it will be at the expense of the people who work there and the families who hope to send their children there. Virginia created these great universities for the benefit of the commonwealth. We should not allow our state university system to be dismantled or wither from neglect.

Leslie Byrne, L.B. for L.G., October 1, 2004