To help close the state’s $4 billion budget hole, Virginia lawmakers may force each of the state’s higher-learning institutions to redirect 5% of their auxiliary funds to the state’s general fund. Auxiliary funds pay for things not directly related to a university’s academic mission, such as athletics, housing, and parking. By law, taxpayer money cannot be used to fund auxiliary accounts.
The proposal buried deep in former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s two-year budget plan would require each public higher education institution to shave off 5 percent from its auxiliary operations account and redirect the cash to the state’s general fund. The move is part of an effort to close a projected state revenue shortfall that will almost certainly exceed $4 billion.
The universities, however, object to the idea. The entities being targeted by Kaine’s budget knife receive no money from state taxpayers by law, they point out. Seizing cash from such self-supported entities, they say, would inevitably lead to higher student fees for housing, parking and much more.
Every school would be forced to pay out 5% of its available money in auxiliary accounts, but UVa, James Madison University, George Mason University and Radford University have such large balances that their contribution to the state would exceed all the other schools combined.
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