"The price tag of a University of Virginia education is continuing its climb upward.

The executive committee of UVa’s Board of Visitors on Wednesday unanimously endorsed substantial tuition and fee increases for in-state and out-of-state students attending the university in the 2008-09 academic year.

For in-state students, tuition and mandatory fees will rise from the current price of $8,500 to $9,300 next year — a 9.4 percent increase.

Out-of-state students, meanwhile, will pay an additional $1,850 next year for a total of $29,600, marking a 6.7 percent jump.

First-year students enrolling at UVa in the fall will pay even more. Including mandatory room and board and a required orientation fee, the cost for in-state students will be $17,318, an increase of 7.3 percent over last fall. Out-of-state first-year students will pay a total of $37,618, an increase of 6.3 percent.

The board’s executive committee approved the tuition rates at a special meeting in Madison Hall. The full Board of Visitors delegated it tuition-setting authority to the executive committee on April 11 because the General Assembly had not yet approved its two-year budget.

Other public colleges and universities in Virginia will set next year’s tuition rates in the coming weeks. Virginia Tech will approve its rates Monday, while the College of William & Mary will set its tuition May 10.

UVa President John T. Casteen III said he expects UVa’s peer institutions around the state to approve tuition increases that are relatively similar to UVa’s increases.

Tuition and fees at UVa have steadily increased over the past five years. During the 2005-06 academic year, tuition and fees were $6,600 for in-state students. Since then, that figure has spiked by $2,700. Tuition and fees for out-of-state students increased by $6,900 in the same period.

Not everyone on UVa’s Board of Visitors was pleased with the size of next fall’s tuition and fees increase. Board member Alan Diamonstein, who is not on the executive committee, told UVa administrators Tuesday that he believes the increase is too steep in a time of economic uncertainty.

“He understands that we need this money,” said Leonard W. Sandridge, UVa’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “He described it to me yesterday as a close call in his perspective. From a principled position, he would like to keep tuition lower.”

Diamonstein did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday afternoon.

UVa’s tuition increase will cover the costs of faculty salaries, scholarships and financial aid for low-income students. Under UVa’s financial aid program, AccessUVa, the university offers loan-free packages to low-income students and caps on need-based loans for all other students.

Last fall, slightly more than one-quarter of UVa students received financial aid under AccessUVa. During the current academic year, the initiative cost $59.8 million. Next year, that figure is projected to increase by $2 million to nearly $62 million.

Casteen said the only way UVa could have curtailed its tuition increase was to slash the number of graduate stipends or increase class sizes.

“Those are reductions that no one wants to have,” he said." (Brian McNeill, The Daily Progress, May 1, 2008)