The state only funds 10% of UVa’a academic budget. The rest of the money needs to be raised some way, and UVa has been able to maintain its high quality and its generous need-based financial aid through strong fundraising.
The article was notable for saying that the Development Office was only watching 46 applicants out of over 32,000 applicants a year. The writers did not have access to admissions decisions, but the information in the article shows that at least one son or daughter of a very large contributor was not admitted during the regular admissions rounds, and was put on a wait list along with thousands of other applicants.
The UVa admissions office has frequently said that they have no access to financial information about US applicants when making their admissions decision.
That compares to many other universities that are “need aware” in their admissions decisions - meaning they have to limit the number of accepted students with high need, and need to accept a certain number of full pay students each year. At those other universities, it often becomes easier to be admitted if you do not apply for financial aid, but that is not the case at UVa.