If you want to know what 21st–century college life
is really like, check out College
Prowler, a student-written guide on the top 200 colleges
in the nation. Three of Virginia’s public universities
– The College of William
and Mary, the University
of Virginia and Virginia
Tech made the cut, as well as some of our private
institutions. In its pages, you’ll learn that, at
W&M, dining hall frozen yogurt is known as “fro-yo,”
and that student I.D.s are known as “Hokie Passports”
at Virginia Tech.
At various schools in the U.S. – perhaps including
our own – this year’s freshmen can download
lectures as podcasts; order late-night snacks on the Web
and get them delivered to their dorms; and even check
online to see when machines in local laundromats are free
(USA
Today, August 28, 2006).
Times have definitely changed since 1693, when King William
III and Queen Mary II granted a charter to establish the
College of William and Mary – the oldest public
institution of higher education in the U.S. (Only Harvard
– a private university – is older.) To finance
the new college, the king provided 1,985 pounds, 14 shillings
and 10 pence from land taxes (called quitrents
at the time) collected in the Colony of Virginia. He also
allocated a penny tax on every pound of tobacco exported
from Maryland and Virginia, as well as tax revenue from
several other sources.
Since then, W&M has had an illustrious history. Presidents
Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler attended
the college, as well as Supreme Court Justice John Marshall
and 16 signers of the Declaration of Independence. George
Washington was the school’s first chancellor. Also,
the academic society Phi Beta Kappa, was founded at the
college. But, perhaps most importantly to today’s
college students, The Daily Show’s Jon
Stewart is a graduate!
Virginia’s oldest college is not the only public
academic institution with a pedigree. W&M graduate
Thomas Jefferson founded and designed the University of
Virginia, which opened in 1825 as an “academic
village.” Jefferson set up an expanded curriculum
of philosophy, arts, foreign languages, science, law and
medicine. During the university’s first year, Jefferson
hosted Sunday dinners at Monticello for its students,
who considered him quite a living legacy. The young Edgar
Alan Poe, who attended the university for a year, was
among Jefferson’s guests at those soirées.
Many, many decades later the likes of Katie
Couric, and “O.C.” star Benjamin
McKenzie graduated from UVA.
Today, among the commonwealth’s 107 universities
and colleges, 38 are public
institutions. They include 15 four-year colleges and
universities, one junior college and 22 community colleges.
The youngest four-year university is Christopher
Newport University in Newport News. It first opened
with 117 students in 1961 as a two-year branch of W&M.
It became a four-year institution in 1971 and separated
from W&M in 1977. Today, more than 4,800 students
attend CNU.
In terms of enrollment, the five largest public universities
in the Old Dominion are: George
Mason University in Fairfax; Virginia
Commonwealth University in Richmond; Virginia
Tech in Blacksburg; the University
of Virginia in Charlottesville; and Old
Dominion University in Norfolk. They each have more
than 20,000 students. Those with the smallest enrollment
include the University
of Virginia's College at Wise and the Virginia
Military Institute in Lexington. VMI has the distinction
of being the only state-supported military college in
the nation. It’s also, as one might expect, the
only public college or university in the state with no
part-time students. The military school’s most famous
graduate is World War II General George
C. Marshall, who graduated 15th out of 34 in the Class
of 1901, and was the architect of the Marshall
Plan, which helped Europe recover from the ravages
of war.
In all, more than 400,000 students were enrolled in all
state colleges and universities last year, and Virginia’s
public institutions awarded more than 51,000 undergraduate
and graduate degrees. Virginia’s public universities
and colleges are also a bit of a bargain. Tuition at W&M,
which ranks 31st in U.S.
News & World Report America's Best Colleges 2007,
is only $8,490 per year for in-state students, plus $6,932
for room and board ($25,048 for out-of state students).
At Brandeis, which tied W&M for the 31st slot, tuition
is $34,035 plus $9,463 for room and board!
In-state tuition at the University of Virginia, which
ranks 24th on the list, is $7,845 plus $6,909 for room
and board compared with $9,988 and $7,838 for room and
board at the University of Michigan – also tied
for 24th place. Out-of-state tuition for each is $25,945
and $30,179 respectively. Whether in-state or out, tuition
has raised a pretty penny since “higher education”
came to Virginia. Both then and now, a good education
is still to be found in the Old Dominion. Just ask Jon
Stewart!
December 18, 2006
(Got a question? Check out Ask
a Librarian Live.)
Nice & Curious
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Last Modified:
Friday, June 27, 2008
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