Private colleges, public purpose: Securing Virginia’s economic future through nonprofit higher education

Cardinal News

Chris Peace

January 13, 2025

Virginia’s accredited nonprofit private colleges and universities fulfill an important public purpose in strengthening local economies, creating jobs, and preparing the Commonwealth’s workforce for future success. The 28 members of the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (“CICV”) members employ nearly 30,000 Virginians and produce $2 billion in wages and benefits, with $157 million in state and local tax revenue and a $4.6 billion significant overall economic output. Degree production and talent retention meet the needs of an evolving workforce with students who are well-prepared for high-demand careers and contribute economically to communities across the state.

Virginia’s economic vitality should continue to benefit from the presence of nonprofit private higher education in all regions of the Commonwealth, including underserved areas like Southwest and Southern Virginia, where public higher education opportunities remain limited. Unfortunately, without support from the Virginia General Assembly, these proud and celebrated institutions, many of which were founded long before some of the state’s public institutions, face mounting challenges, including rising business costs from increasingly burdensome federal regulation and extraordinary enrollment disruptions from the federal government’s recent bungled efforts to “simplify” its financial aid process. Moreover, declining birth rates since 2008 mean a shrinking pool of 18-year-olds heading to college. The Hechinger Report highlights a 15% drop in national enrollment from 2010 to 2021, illustrating a growing strain on institutions. While the sky is not falling in Virginia now, the Cardinal News editorial page recently detailed sobering news that over 500 nonprofit private colleges closed in the past decade — a rate three times higher than the previous decade. So, while federal regulations, mandates, and demographic pressures are outside the direct control of Virginia lawmakers, state leaders have a unique opportunity to provide certainty for students and families of private colleges by creating a stable funding environment where colleges can thrive.

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