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GA BILL FORMALIZES W & M CHARTER PACT-THE DAILYPRESS, JANUARY 24, 2006

Posted: Wednesday January 25, 2006

GA Bill Formalizes W&M Charter Pact
The university would see less state red tape under the agreement and keep tuition affordable.
BY JOHN M.R. BULL
247-4768
January 24, 2006

RICHMOND- In a first-of-its-kind contract that loosens the ties between state universitie s and state government, the College of William and Mary is promising to keep tuition rates reasonable, lower student graduation debts, and admit hundreds of community college students.

In return, the state will give the school freedom from many purchasing and construction regulations and let school officials decide faculty and staff salary and benefits.

A formal deal is now in bill form and moving through the General Assembly. The bill also covers agreements at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.

“This was a very complicated piece of legislation,” said the bill’s patron, Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City. “I’m very pleased with where we are at. This is the premier functional model in the country. I think every other state in the country is watching what we do here.”

The General Assembly last year authorized so-called “charter university” agreements between the state and many of the state’s colleges and universities.

The state would free the schools of cumbersome and expensive bureaucratic rules in return for six-year agreements that spell out how the schools would better themselves and remain accessible and affordable to Virginia residents.

William and Mary’s six-year plan was submitted in November and approved by then-Gov. Mark R. Warner. Lawmakers now get the final say in a bill that Norment said he expects will be approved, although some lawmakers have questions about it.

William and Mary plans to keep in state tuition and fees near the current rate – provided state funding remains at its current rate, Norment said. The six-year plan does not specify annual tuition and fee projections but aims to keep them “stable and predictable.”

Student aid would increase.

In 2004, the school spent $24.2 million on financial aid, of which 10 percent came from the state. The school has long had a policy of capping the debt of a graduate with family income of $30,000 at the cost of a year’s tuition and fees.

That’s not enough to help low-income families of academically deserving students, William and Mary President Gene R. Nichol decided.

The school now pledges to create an aid package that ensures students from families with $40,000 in annual income graduate without any debt.

William and Mary’s agreement with the state also calls for every student to be given a chance to study abroad during their academic careers. Currently, two-thirds of the student body has that opportunity, according to the school’s six-year plan.

Scheduled to take effect in July, the plan also calls for increased faculty and staff salaries, doubles research funding and keeps roughly the current number of classes offered and subject matter taught.

The university also will focus on increasing enrollment of Virginia residents in the current 7,400-student body by 515 students by 2011. Many of the new students would be transfers from state community colleges.

Lawmakers had requested William and Mary do a better job of enrolling more low-income students and students who obtain two-year degrees from community colleges who seek a four-year bachelor’s degree.

As a result, the school has agreed to admit roughly 160 more students a year who graduate from Virginia community colleges. They must have maintained a 3.6 grade point average, and earned a “B” or better in entry level community college English classes.

Another agreement is being negotiated with some Hampton Roads area community colleges to guarantee admission to William and Mary when students obtain a two-year associate’s degree from those community colleges.

As required by enabling legislation passed last year by lawmakers, William and Mary promised to continue to work with regional economic developers – such as the Hampton Roads Economic Development Partnership and the Peninsula Workforce Council – to try to better the lives of low-income residents in communities near Williamsburg.

“There is nothing that is broken; little that needs to be fixed,” the school summarized in its improvement plan negotiated with state education officials.

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GA BILL FORMALIZES W & M CHARTER PACT-THE DAILYPRESS, JANUARY 24, 2006

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