January 21, 2009
Good afternoon, Chairman Putney, Vice-chairman Hamilton and other members of the House Appropriations committee. We appreciate very much this Committee’s support for higher education. In recent years, you have provided crucial leadership and support for key initiatives, whether it was the landmark restructuring legislation, or the Commonwealth Research Initiative launched three years ago, or last year’s historic capital outlay program and bond bill.
These measures have meant a great deal to all of our institutions and to the communities and regions in which we are located.
As a result of the bond legislation, for example, work is already under way in Roanoke on the Virginia Tech Carilion Medical School and Research Institute, creating jobs and hopes for the future in our region.
We all know the financial crisis that we face, but we also know that we must make critical investments today, especially in education and research and development, in order to have greater economic strength in the future.
A recent example that is creating jobs right now is Rolls Royce’s decision to locate in Virginia. Company officials have stated clearly that the engineering excellence at Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia made the difference in their locating in Virginia rather than another state. I should note that Virginia Tech is one of the nation’s top 5 producers of engineers with bachelor’s degrees. We have an excellent working relationship with our friends in Charlottesville, as well as Virginia State, who will also play a key role in this project.
The support you have provided us in the past is paying dividends in other ways. Because of the recent Commonwealth Research Initiative, we were able to create our Nanoscale Characterization & Fabrication Lab— which gives us capabilities on par with the best nanotechnology labs in the world. This multi-million dollar equipment is being made available to other universities in Virginia and to the private sector, which gives small, high-tech companies access to equipment – and opportunities -- they would otherwise lack.
This is another example of the public private partnerships that are on the forefront of our strategy for growing research and the economy of the state in the future.
There are many other examples of how we have leveraged our Commonwealth Research Initiative funds into additional research dollars from many sources. In fact, through that initiative, Virginia Tech moved up the national research rankings from 54th to 42nd—an unprecedented jump.
Unfortunately, as you know, those Commonwealth Research Initiative funds have been zeroed out in the budget.
I must tell you that progress in research is vital to our state’s economic future, and that progress cannot be sustained in fits and starts—success in research requires continuous, reliable support. The CRI was the only truly significant investment in research by the Commonwealth in decades, and now it is gone.
It takes more than innovative ideas to bring new technologies and new products to market, where they create jobs and income growth. It takes sustained funding to turn those ideas into viable enterprises that create profits, jobs, and, yes, tax revenues.
Here I would like to express our great appreciation to Delegate Hogan and The Speaker for championing a potential $100 million investment by the Tobacco Commission in energy research. These funds will be available on a competitive basis
This is truly a creative approach that we applaud and for which we are most appreciative.
Research is of vital importance to our future, but I do not want to overlook the cuts to our core educational programs, which have been reduced precipitously.
We in the higher education community understand the unprecedented economic challenges facing our state, and we will do our part without complaint to help weather the storm. At the same time, we are compelled to speak candidly with you about the actual consequences of the recent cuts – especially since so much of what we do has a direct impact on both Virginia’s economic growth and the economic opportunities our young people will enjoy.
Our colleges, universities and community colleges can help propel Virginia’s strong recovery and expansion in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century. But it is hard for us to do so when the state’s per-student investment is less than it was in 1990!
During the first recession of this decade, higher ed was hit hard, but efforts were made in recent sessions to build back some of this funding.
However, the unfortunate truth is that the recently announced budget cuts will undo much of the good that this Committee and the Legislature have done for higher education, on a bipartisan basis, in recent years.
Now, based on Gov. Kaine’s proposed budget, E&G General Fund Appropriations per Virginia student in 2009-10 will be only $5,929, compared to $9,915 per Virginia student in 2000-01. That’s almost $4,000 less per student.
At one time, Virginia wanted an in-state student to pay about 25 percent of the “cost to educate,” with the state picking up the balance. This year, Virginia students and their families are bearing roughly 55 to 60 percent of the cost.
Despite these deep cuts, we continue to make every effort to make a Virginia Tech education accessible and affordable. We are doing our part to create innovative programs to help soften the inevitable blow of increased tuition. In fact, we are announcing this week an emergency loan program for students whose parents have recently become unemployed to help them bridge the gap to better times without having to drop out of school.
We also have increased our efficiency. . . we are doing more with less.
Adjusted for inflation, the average cost of education at Virginia Tech is less today than in 1990-91.
In addition, while our support is diminishing, our demand is increasing. Virginia Tech has enrolled 2,000 additional Virginia undergraduates in the last four years – at the same time that our General Fund support has decreased by $40 million.
I must tell you that this continuing cycle of budget cuts has brought us to a tipping point. We have exhausted any benefit from marginal costs and are at a point where reducing enrollments and programs will be necessary to maintain the quality that makes our degrees valuable to our graduates.
I don’t need to remind you that it is these students, who will be shaping our economy in the future – in an ever more competitive world.
We ask for your support in addressing these needs and their importance to the quality of our programs and the future of the higher education, and ultimately to the future of the Commonwealth.
We also recognize that you have a lot of work – very important work – to get accomplished as all of us continue to grapple with the economic crisis and its impacts on our budgets and our hopes for the future.
Again, we look forward to working with you to help the Commonwealth, and our nation, weather the current economic storm and to finding our way to a strong and prosperous future.
Thank you.