Higher education investment pays off

Del. Kaye Kory, who represents Annandale in the state House of Delegates, believes the state must not decrease its investment in higher education. In her latest Richmond Report, Kory notes that for each dollar spent on higher education in Virginia, the commonwealth receives $1.39 in increased tax revenue.

While the Governor’s Higher Education Reform Committee has adopted the admirable goal of increasing the number of college degrees awarded by 100,000 in the next 15 years, Kory notes, this goal is likely to be DOA if the current pace of disinvestment continues. “The math just doesn’t add up,” she says. “Either tuition will have to rise so dramatically that only the most exceptional students and students from well-to-do families (many from out-of-state) will be able to afford higher education, or that quality of education delivered will be so diminished as to be unrecognizable to Virginia citizens.”

For more details, read Kory’s Richmond Report published Oct. 20 in the Falls Church News Press.