Virginia’s colleges and universities are among the most expensive in the nation, according to the recently released report by the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) on tuition and fees for 2026 to 2027.
Using data from the U.S. Department of Education, the report found that Virginia tuition and mandatory fees ranked as:
- 6th highest among doctoral/research institutions (William & Mary, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech)
- 2nd highest in the nation for comprehensive institutions (Christopher Newport University, James Madison University, Longwood University, Norfolk State University, Radford University, the University of Mary Washington, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Virginia Military Institute, and Virginia State University)
- 16th highest in the nation for associate-degree granting institutions.
This academic year, according to the report, total charges at baccalaureate institutions will rise 3.9%.
The high cost of post-secondary education is becoming an issue at a difficult time for colleges and universities. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs have faced scrutiny in recent years and become a political flashpoint.
At the same time, there is increasing pressure to more-closely align post-secondary degrees to careers. The State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV) in Virginia released a report in late 2025 proposing higher education demonstrate its “return on investment to Virginians and contributions to the economy and society.”
A January 2026 national study by Brightbound found that parents are cooling on the idea of college. It reports that “the percentage of parents preferring [college] has dropped from 74% in 2019 to 58% in 2025.” However, “while the preference for college has decreased by 16 percentage points, interest in nondegree pathways has grown by only six points, indicating a rise in parents who are either undecided or considering other options.”
The study found that college affordability, nationally speaking, isn’t a driving factor for softening on college degrees for the majority of people.
However, Virginia may be the exception.
High Tuitions and the Costs to Students and Society
July’s Commonwealth Poll by the Wilder Center at Virginia Commonwealth University showed that concerns over college affordability are significant. It sums up its findings this way:
“The average total cost of attending a four-year institution in Virginia is $28,640 a year. Most registered voters in Virginia (79%) believe that cost is too high, including 51% who say it is much too high. That compares with 70% of registered voters who expressed the same view in the Winter 2026 Commonwealth Poll. Just 17% believe the cost is about right.”
To put that 79% in perspective, the percentage of people opposing tax exemptions for data centers was seven percentage points less – 72%
Complicating this picture is a growing body of research that suggests attending college, especially for students who are on the margins academically for admission, has a significant impact on these students’ economic futures and no additional burden on taxpayers.
A December 2024 study of students from Georgia attending University of Georgia system schools (about half of Georgia’s high school graduates) found that “enrollment in public four-year institutions boosts students’ estimated household income around age 30 by about 17 percent and has even larger impacts for those from low-income high schools.”
These benefits were especially pronounced among students from lower income families. “[E]nrollment in such public four-year institutions,” the study found, “substantially boosts estimated household income as measured around age 30, driven largely by students from low-income high schools.” It concludes that, “For the marginal student, and particularly for those from low-income high schools, enrollment in such institutions has large private returns in the short run and positive returns to state budgets in the long run.”
A study earlier this year of the University of Texas system had similar conclusions.
Acknowledging that students who are academically on the margins as less prepared and are less likely to earn degrees than their better-equipped peers, the trajectories for these students “are significant improvements over the typical trajectories these marginal students would have experienced had they been rejected instead.”
An Opening to Address Costs and Curricula
There doesn’t appear to be a study of Virginia students that compares with those done in Georgia and Texas. However, the Wilder Center and SCHEV in October 2021 did a survey of graduates for Virginia colleges and universities between 2007 and 2018 examining their level of satisfaction with their educations and the extent to which they felt it had prepared them for their lives.
Graduates were generally pleased with their experience and what they learned, but there was one notable exception. “One aspect of the undergraduate education – general education – received notably lower ratings.”
This presents an opportunity to both strengthen students’ and parents’ interest in a college education while also addressing the financial pressures that are concerning many.
This year, Virginia is joining Ohio in examining creating two 90-credit degree programs, though the fields have not been specified. Typically, a four-year degree requires about 120 credits. A 90-credit program would shorten college by one year. It would also shave about 25 percent off the total price of earning a degree.
One obvious place to look for shaving credits off a college degree is in general education requirements. That approach, however, comes with a trade-off. General education courses are meant to expose students to the rich variety of opportunities before them. Sharply curtailing them would raise fundamental questions about what a college education should be.
Discussions are early, and time will tell what approach the state will take to reduce the time one takes to earn a bachelor’s degree, and whether this is the best approach to reducing the cost of attending college.
Degree length isn’t the only factor in rising tuition costs. The opaque costs of college, rising spending on student and academic support, and administrative bloat are significant drivers in rising tuition rates.
Regardless the cause, Virginia risks losing students if their families simply no longer can afford to, or are willing to, foot the bill. A 2024 JLARC study on higher education institutional viability found that the commonwealth’s public higher educational institutions are relatively sound.
A sustained loss of students could have devastating consequences for the state’s colleges and universities, which depend heavily on enrollment and tuition revenue to operate.
