<p>Will BOV fire Sullivan again?</p>
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<p>It sounds like the BOV ought to be thinking about firing itself, first.</p>
<p>Wow. We were really considering it based on its branding. We would’ve felt duped not knowing this beforehand.</p>
<p>It is kind of weird, though, for barrons to bring this up. I have no dog whatsoever in any UVA fight but barrons has gotten into numerous, shall we say, whizzing matches on CC over his apparent personal dislike of UVA and boosterism of Wisconsin.</p>
<p>So a study commissioned by the University concludes that what ails them can be cured by a bigger budget and hiring more people.</p>
<p>Shocking.</p>
<p>Not sure that charging more tuition is the way to go. While it is a great school, UVA isn’t truly competing with the Ivies except to the degree it is acting as a safety school – it is competing with the likes of UNC, Michigan, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Rice – many of which are willing to attract the best and brightest students with significant merit aid. UVA’s “we don’t need to offer institutional merit aid” stance doesn’t help it in terms of attracting the students who might otherwise choose Ivies or a merit award at a true competitor.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of aid in the same breath as University of Michigan. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what “falling behind it’s competitors” even means. Average GPA and test scores? Success of athletics? The last paragraph says “no to the size thing”</p>
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<p>…and this</p>
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<p>What the heck does “doesn’t feel as driven as others” all in all I’m still not exactly sure (after reading the link) what the BOD is concerned about.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/bov/meetings/13may/Strategic%20assessment%20BOV%20slides%205-21-13.pdf[/url]”>http://www.virginia.edu/bov/meetings/13may/Strategic%20assessment%20BOV%20slides%205-21-13.pdf</a></p>
<p>The Post article is inaccurately inflammatory. You can read the actual presentation of the consultants above. There also is a 3 page draft summary online, but I haven’t found the actual full report.</p>
<p>UVa’s in-state and out of state tuition rates have increased dramatically. I don’t see how they can increase it much more. Out of state tuition and fees are now 39K, and the Commerce School is now 44K a year (not including room and board).</p>
<p>In answer to the previous comment, the report does compare UVa to non-Ivies - mainly Vanderbilt, Michigan, Berkeley, NYU, Chicago, etc. It says that most students who turn down UVa do attend Ivies, Duke, Stanford, MIT and other top 25 universities.</p>
<p>UVA has a transportation problem.</p>
<p>With respect to Michigan and merit aid- you have to remember there are a lot of high caliber students at Michigan so merit aid may not be easy to get but it does exist. For the really big awards, Michigan is using them to attract students away from Harvard and the like.</p>
<p>So Pizza, ignorance is bliss? Maybe all that happened with UVa last year made more sense to folks that read my stuff over the years, you think? It came over my twitter from WAPO. Apparently the WAPO thought it newsworthy and you will likely see more. I do not work for the WAPO.</p>
<p>$32,000 is a bargain compared to UofM at $50000+ for out of state. The average non-need based institutional aid at Michigan is under $10,000 and that was awarded to around 1200 kids. $32,000 is probably a bargain compared to the universities they are using for comparison. When kids apply to 8 or more colleges they ARE turning down offers…all offers but the one they accept. I think they need to determine why kids turn them down and the only way they can do that is by surveying the kids and or parents of kids that turn them down. Interviewing faculty and board members isn’t going to tell them why kids are turning the university down.</p>
<p>barrons…I have to agree with Pizzagirl on this one. What is the real driving force behind your deep-seated hatred of UVa? Seriously, I know you’re a VA resident…was your kid rejected? Are you a professor who wasn’t offered a job? This animosity must stem from more than you simply wanting educate and protect people from what you perceive as a demonic institution. If your motives were pure, and you were simply wanting to inform people as you so claim, then why is your agenda only UVa? Certainly there are numerous other universities who have been in the news; pray tell, why don’t you ever mention them? You have this vendetta against this school, but I’ll be darned if I know why. Sounds personal to me.</p>
<p>Why does it make the least bit of difference who turns them down? They have no shortage of good students. Those who aren’t attending don’t know a thing about what is happening in the classroom, or how well the faculty are teaching, or what the educational environment is really like. </p>
<p>The job of a state university is to educate state residents. They have a limited number of places, and the more students who go elsewhere, the more room there is for the university to fulfill its function.</p>
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<p>Are you suggesting that barrons wrote the WAPO article, or the consultant’s report? A person’s personal dislike of UVA may drive their interest in the subject matter, however, it should be possible to discuss the topic on its merits. The article was published in a major newspaper. It’s not some obscure blog that was dug up out of the annals of the internet.</p>
<p>No, pp, I am not “suggesting” either of those things. It may very well be a true article. I think there is a lot of merit to the idea that UVA was a star state school that hasn’t kept up. I don’t know. I’m commenting on the fact that it is odd for someone to repeatedly bring up a school they have no affiliation with just to point out flaws. I have a dislike for Arizona State, but I don’t go posting “see how bad ASU is” articles. Barron’s has had a vendetta and I’m allowed to point that out.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl: You are allowed to do whatever you like as long as it is within the TOS of a site.</p>
<p>So what if someone has a vendetta that drives their interest? What difference does it make? If the article is published in a major newspaper it is fair game for discussion. Does it really matter who posted it or why?</p>
<p>Did I say it wasn’t fair game for discussion? Discuss away.</p>
<p>Hard to be an expert in all schools so I concentrate on a few popular ones that interest me for various reasons. I never understood the high ranking of UVa by some and learned all about it for my own interest. Have I said there website and internal publications are excellent–maybe too honest. But never applied nor did any relatives I know of. I have been around UVa many times for many years and enjoy most aspects of it. But it has limitations/issues that have become well known now, no thanks to me. Everything I post about it comes from major sources either internal to UVa or like the WAPO articles which are frequent. I think they follow UVa more closely than UMd. I don’t know why.</p>
<p>I also don’t care much for ASU. It seems like one big scam not unlike the U of Phoenix.</p>
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Especially when they advertise on the radio…“Get a quality degree without compromise…”</p>
<p>All these articles about hand-wringing over UVA not keeping up seem mostly concerned about star faculty. UVA doesn’t have a critical mass of faculty in national academies, etc. - but so do a lot of other schools. They should continue to differentiate and play to their strengths which is undergraduate liberal arts education. I think that’s what they say in their reports. Chasing the STEM graduate and research aspect may spread them thin. I think the faculty want a commitment from the board and administration that their focus should remain undergraduate liberal arts.</p>