The Hard Truth About UVA’s (Un)Affordability

Last Friday, July 26, we shared a link in our weekly must-reads newsletter to a UVA Today article touting UVA’s recent Money Magazine and Princeton Review rankings. While we applaud national recognitions of our beloved alma mater, these rankings do not paint a full picture of the “affordability” of a UVA education. Even still, we will continue to share articles which do not entirely reflect our positions because one of our core pillars is to “Promote a culture of civil dialogue, the free exchange of competing ideas and intellectual diversity throughout the University.”

So what exactly is wrong with Princeton Review’s conclusion that UVA is “the No. 1 public school for financial aid and the third best-value public university in the country”?

On July 8, we released a review on the cost of attendance at Mr. Jefferson’s university compared to some of the leading American educational institutions. The bottom-line is that the UVA financial aid office provides full tuition grants for Virginia family incomes up to $100,000 (documented here). Virginia families between $100-150,000 receive at least $2,000 in grants. Each of the income thresholds have increased 20% over previous years. As of 2024, a Virginia family with an income of over $150,000 will not receive any need-based grants. 

The overriding problem with these policies is that those coming from out-of-state in the upper-middle class and lower-end upper-class earners (full statistics here) are the group most unlikely to afford UVA. The current posting for third- and fourth-year out-of-state UVA undergraduate tuition and fees is $83,685. Even for a family making $200,000, after tuition, fees, and living expenses, that family’s income would become less than $100,000, moving that family out of the upper-class and into the center of the middle class, according to Forbes.  How many families would choose to send their child to a school that will reduce their overall standard of living or bring decades of debt? 

The bottom-line is that out-of-state economic diversity, which is never referenced by the Ryan administration, is declining and virtually extinct among the student body. Only the very rich and the poor/lower middle class on generous financial aid can afford to attend UVA. Others are certain to select other top state universities like UNC, Florida, Georgia, etc. which are $20-38,000 less per year. This is neither “great nor good.”

UVA is not cost competitive. Expenses must be drastically reduced. Our tuition levels (for both out-of-state and in-state students) prohibit deserving scholars from matriculating who would add to the cultural richness and educational diversity of the University.