Va. Colleges Seek Financial Flexibility

Lawmakers to Act on Measure Being Watched Across Country
By Susan KinzieWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, April 6, 2005; Page B05
The Virginia legislature will act on a bill today that Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) calls the most sweeping change to public higher education in decades.
It's not just that every public college in Virginia could have, to varying degrees, more freedom from regulations, more flexibility and more accountability for meeting state goals. It's part of an evolution in what it means to be a public university, experts said, emblematic of a conversation happening in many states as the share of public money has declined over the past couple of decades -- and something that will be closely watched as it shakes out.

"We're sure looking at it," said David Longanecker, executive director of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
Public universities across the country are rethinking their relationships with the state, said Nils Hasselmo, president of the Association of American Universities. "They're looking for greater freedom to take their own fate in their own hands by, for example, setting their own tuition, entering into strategic relationships with other institutions and business and industry."

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