Out of State Students at Virginia Schools

Check out this recent interesting article from the Post, "Lawmakers Want to Limit Non-Va. College Students." An excerpt:


Valedictorian Phillip Wears boasted a 4.01 grade point average, served as captain of his lacrosse team and won awards for photography and television production when he graduated from South County Secondary School last year. But he still couldn't get into the University of Virginia. "He was kind of shocked more than anything," said his mother, Millie Wears of Fairfax Station. "It's a Virginia school. You have a student who has a 4.0. How can you say no?"

State legislators say they think they know the answer: An increasing number of Virginia students with top grades and impressive test scores, many from populous Northern Virginia, are losing slots at the state's premiere schools to out-of-state students.

Now, lawmakers are attempting to limit the number of out-of-state students admitted to Virginia's schools to reserve more seats for in-state students, particularly at U-Va., the College of William and Mary, Virginia Tech and James Madison University.

The General Assembly is considering providing the schools with $12.5 million in extra funds to cover the cost of the in-state enrollment growth. The schools would be required to set aside at least 70 percent of freshman slots and 80 percent of new transfer slots for in-state students.