DATE: Monday, November 17, 1997             TAG: 9711150036

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   50 lines

FINANCIAL AID REASONABLE RESTRICTIONS STATE COUNCIL IMPOSES TIME LIMITS AND PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

If Virginia had limitless money for helping financially needy college students pay their tuition, then we might have no quarrel with the current standards for receiving those funds.

But the state does not. Choices must be made, and one such decision made recently by the State Council of Higher Education strikes us as reasonable.

The council says it will strip financial aid from students who don't maintain at least a C average after 60 credit hours (the equivalent of two years in college) and from students who take too long to graduate. The money will stop after a student competes the equivalent of 4 1/2 years of credit at a four-year institution or 2 1/2 years at a community college.

If enacted immediately, the new standards would affect about 2,800 students, more than half of them enrolled in community colleges.

The 60-hour limit is an improvement over an earlier proposal which would have had the C-average rule kick in after 30 credit hours. That was too harsh. Many entering college students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, find the rigors of higher education to be a shock.

They deserve time to get up to speed, and two years provides an adequate cushion. One year might not.

The time limit also has merit. The state should not be asked to finance repeated changes-of-mind involving courses of study. Students who are focused about their goals deserve to be rewarded.

However, the council will need to think carefully about the precise language of the new rule. Honors students typically take heavier course loads than are required, and there may be merit in allowing them to continue to do so.

Certain degree programs - such as the Masters of Arts in Teaching - require extra hours for completion.

Moreover, the council should include an appeals mechanism for the rare student who has a highly meritorious or understandable reason for taking more than the usual number of courses. Exceptions should be few, but local administrators are best positioned to evaluate when truly special circumstances occur.

With those caveats, the council should be commended for attempting to put Virginia tax dollars to their best use. Available monies should go to students who demonstrate through their performance that they value the assistance and are putting it to good use. Now it's up to the General Assembly to provide more financial aid so that more deserving students can take advantage of Virginia colleges and universities.

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