By Kevin Miller
The Roanoke Times

AMHERST - The presidents of several private colleges said Monday that their institutions are willing to accept more students to lessen enrollment pressure on Virginia's public system of higher education. But it will take some help from the state.

The presidents made their pitch for greater partnership during a town hall meeting at Sweet Briar College with lawmakers and education leaders from across Central and Southwest Virginia. The meeting was the second of five gatherings throughout the state by Gov. Mark Warner to discuss the future of higher education in Virginia as well as the proposal to grant three public universities - including Virginia Tech - greater financial autonomy.

Warner, who spoke to the crowd of 60 to 70 people by speaker phone, and State Secretary of Education Belle Wheelan said Virginia has increased investment in education. But they said the state still faces significant challenges, including how to keep tuition reasonable, expand research programs and accommodate the bubble of college-bound students working their way through Virginia's K-12 schools.

The three presidents pledged the support of private institutions statewide.

"Indeed, we can do much more than we have in the past," Lynchburg College's Kenneth Garren said.

One option, Garren said, would be for the state to agree to a contract with his and other private colleges to expand their teacher-preparation and nursing programs. Like most states, Virginia is facing a drastic shortage of qualified teachers and nurses.

Kathleen Bowman of Randolph-Macon Woman's College said she was encouraged to hear about a $3,000 grant being considered by the state officials to encourage community college students to transfer to private schools. Such transfer agreements are a "good route" to encouraging enrollment in private colleges, she said.

Sweet Briar President Elisabeth Showalter Muhlenfeld said the state should help narrow the price gap between private and public colleges to make a private education more attractive. One option would be to increase Virginia's tuition assistance grant program, which offers about $2,500 to Virginia residents who enroll at private colleges, she said.

Muhlenfeld said increasing those grants is more cost effective for the state than paying the average $7,000 subsidy given to public colleges for each student.

"Until the state can help us grapple with that, we cannot attract community college students to the private institutions that have space," Muhlenfeld said.

Wheelan and other education officials said they were encouraged to hear that the private college presidents were interested in cooperating more closely with the public colleges.

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