Higher Ed is an Investment in Virginia's Future

Friday, Old Dominion University, along with all Virginia public universities and state agencies, submitted to the governor its plans to address the state budget reductions.

Following several recent meetings with our vice presidents and Board of Visitors, where we discussed and debated a variety of scenarios, we provided a plan that addresses reductions at several percentage levels while maintaining as best as possible support to faculty, staff and students, as well as our strategic goals. Our goal was to protect the core mission of the university and to minimize any impact on serving our students, and I believe we have met that goal.

These are difficult economic times for the country and the commonwealth and I have urged legislators to carefully consider the positive impact education historically has had and will continue to have on the economy. Continued support of higher education is an investment in Virginia's future.

It is because we are a nation of educated citizens that the United States remains among the leading countries of the world in many areas. But education also plays a more tangible, real role in today's economy.

For example, Old Dominion accepted a challenge to grow in order to accommodate an expanding demographic of eligible college students. The university did that and has witnessed a 7 percent enrollment increase this fall. While these students bring a considerable influx of money to our local coffers, they more importantly represent additional Virginians staying in-state to learn, to live and to eventually lead.

The more than 23,000 ODU student body also represents a higher number of transfer students and first-generation students, for whom affording college may be more of a struggle. Old Dominion has kept its tuition low so that more qualified students can get an education without the financial burdens of high student loans and other debt.

Old Dominion's cutting-edge, collaborative research in areas from oceanography and modeling and simulation to alternative energy and physics helps make the university the largest generator of new jobs in the region.

The bottom line is this: while I realize that all state agencies will be affected by state cuts, I believe that cutting higher education at a consistent rate with other agencies will do more harm to the very economy we are trying to fix.

In the nearly 15 years I've spent at Old Dominion, the commonwealth has been an ardent supporter of our mission. I hope that our record of heeding the state's call for additional services and our 75-plus year history of educating some of the commonwealth's best and brightest students weighs heavily in what is surely a most difficult decision-making process for our state leadership.