House Minority Leader Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth comments on the $200 million error regarding basic aid funding.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin expressed rare frustration with his own administration on Wednesday when he asked General Assembly budget leaders to use “necessary resources” to fix a mistake that had led local school divisions to expect $201 million more in state basic aid than they are now projected to receive during the current fiscal year and the next one.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch first reported on Monday that the Department of Education had made an error last year in preparing its calculating tool for estimating basic aid that the state sends to school divisions to meet their obligations under the Standards of Quality for K-12 public education. The mistake overstated the amount of aid by $58 million in the current budget year — almost three quarters done — and $143.5 million in the fiscal year that will begin on July 1.
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Youngkin told the leaders of the House and Senate Finance committees that the mistake resulted from a “mathematical error,” and assured them that he is working with the department “to ensure this mistake will not happen again.”
“This situation is frustrating for us all and even more so that it came to light after I submitted my proposed budget,” the governor said in a letter on Wednesday to House Appropriations Chair Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, and Senate Finance Co-Chairs Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, and George Barker, D-Fairfax.
The committees are preparing their versions of the revised two-year state budget for release and committee adoption on Sunday, and for action by their respective chambers next week. The budget itself does not include the error, but school divisions generally rely on the calculator in determining how much state aid to expect for public education in their school budgets.
“I am requesting that as you finalize your budget amendments this week that you include the necessary resources to address this error,” Youngkin told the budget leaders.
Those resources include projected increases in state sales tax revenue that would add a net $90.5 million to the budget this fiscal year — more than enough to make up the shortfall. The education department expects a net increase of $77.5 million in sales tax revenues in the second year, or a little more than half of the shortfall.
The administration also may have more revenue available later this month when it reports state revenues collected in January. That could lead to a revised forecast that makes more money available to the assembly for its proposed budget.
“I am confident that when you consider the continued outperformance of the Commonwealth’s collections, the most up to date K-12 funding resource projections, and sales tax projections, as well as other surpluses, this resource gap can be filled,” Youngkin said in the letter.
Knight, in a speech on the House floor on Wednesday, assured legislators that “there will be no cuts this year,” and highlighted the additional state spending on state direct aid for public education that was included in the budget last year and proposed by the governor in December.
In an interview on Wednesday, Knight promised, “No school system is going to suffer anything. No student is going to suffer anything. Everyone is going to be made whole.”
The mistake appeared last June after the assembly adopted and the governor signed the budget. Unlike the budget, the calculator did not reflect the hold harmless payments to be made to school divisions to offset the loss of money from the elimination of the state’s portion of the sales tax on groceries. The department released a revised calculator on Dec. 16, 2022 after the governor proposed his revised budget, but the agency said it did not notice the discrepancy in projected basic aid allocations until last week, when State Superintendent Jillian Balow informed division superintendents.
The calculator overstated projected state basic aid during the two years by almost $18 million in Fairfax County, the state’s largest school division; $10.8 million in Chesterfield County; $8.1 million in Henrico County; $3.2 million in Richmond; and $2.6 million in Hanover County.
The mistake also hurt small and less affluent school divisions, including Petersburg, which expected $843,486 more in state aid than it is now entitled to receive. Officials in small and rural school divisions say they would be hurt more than the big divisions because they rely more on state aid for public education, based on the relative ability to pay.
“We came together last year to secure record investments for K-12 education, and we have the opportunity to continue that momentum in the coming weeks,” Youngkin told the budget leaders. “We all agree that this is a critical matter and I look forward to working with you all on this and our other budget priorities.”
Colleges where graduates have the most student debt
Where college graduates have accrued the most debt
In August 2022, President Biden announced his plan for student loan forgiveness, garnering elation from many borrowers and criticism from those who felt the measure did not go far enough to alleviate the financial burden. However, the plan’s rollout did not go smoothly. As millions of borrowers’ applications flooded in — and the student loan debt crisis surpassed $1.74 trillion — student loan forgiveness is projected to hit a snag — or several.
Several court cases have continued to stall forgiveness efforts, tying up the execution of debt cancellation in legal purgatory. The sheer volume of applications has also created a backlog of roughly 2 million candidates, resulting in wait times exceeding three months. Further delaying the loan forgiveness process for many applicants are ongoing proceedings in a $6 billion settlement against a group of colleges, many of which are private for-profit institutions accused of defrauding students and other misconduct. Several colleges named in the settlement have appealed the decision.
As college enrollment continues to decline due to various factors — lack of affordability, fear of taking on debt, and doubts about the value of a degree, among others — making an informed decision about which college to attend has taken on an even greater sense of urgency. Stacker ranked the 35 colleges with the highest median debt after graduation, using Department of Education data on more than 5,200 U.S. colleges for the 2020-21 school year.
This analysis only includes loans accumulated while at the school awarding the graduation credentials — it doesn’t include private loans, parent loans, or loans originated at other schools for transfer students. Average annual costs, compiled by the DOE, include tuition, housing, materials, and fees, minus the average grants and scholarships awarded. They are listed, along with estimated enrollment, but don’t factor into the ranking.
Many schools on the list are private for-profit schools, which have long been embroiled in accusations of predatory lending behavior. Religious schools and art and design institutions are also frequent additions. Only one school on the list is a public university.
Read on to find out where college graduates accrue the most student debt.
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#35. Dillard University, Louisiana (tie)
– Median student debt at graduation: $31,250
– Average annual cost: $19,105
#35. Methodist College, Illinois (tie)
– Median student debt at graduation: $31,250
– Average annual cost: $25,714
#34. Amridge University, Alabama
– Median student debt at graduation: $31,417
– Average annual cost: $17,618
#33. Morris College, South Carolina
– Median student debt at graduation: $31,450
– Average annual cost: $16,397
#31. Ashford University, California
– Median student debt at graduation: $31,802
– Average annual cost: $20,987
#30. Tougaloo College, Mississippi
– Median student debt at graduation: $32,100
– Average annual cost: $13,382
#29. University of Phoenix-Arizona, Arizona
– Median student debt at graduation: $32,421
– Average annual cost: $52,572
#28. Aviation Institute of Maintenance-Manassas, Virginia
– Median student debt at graduation: $32,500
– Average annual cost: $24,161
#26. Livingstone College, North Carolina
– Median student debt at graduation: $32,875
– Average annual cost: $17,593
#25. Laurus College, California
– Median student debt at graduation: $32,937
– Average annual cost: $11,683
#24. Newschool of Architecture and Design, California
– Median student debt at graduation: $32,985
– Average annual cost: $37,654
#23. Miles College, Alabama
– Median student debt at graduation: $33,000
– Average annual cost: $14,912
#22. Peirce College, Pennsylvania
– Median student debt at graduation: $33,014
– Average annual cost: $8,382
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#21. Humphreys University-Stockton and Modesto Campuses, California
– Median student debt at graduation: $33,167
– Average annual cost: $12,075
#20. Lane College, Tennessee
– Median student debt at graduation: $33,177
– Average annual cost: $14,109
#19. West Coast University-Miami, Florida
– Median student debt at graduation: $33,319
– Average annual cost: $173,224
#18. Stratford University, Virginia
– Median student debt at graduation: $33,374
– Average annual cost: $24,789
#16. Benedict College, South Carolina
– Median student debt at graduation: $34,500
– Average annual cost: $12,678
#15. Allen University, South Carolina
– Median student debt at graduation: $35,000
– Average annual cost: $13,963
#14. Nazarene Bible College, Colorado
– Median student debt at graduation: $36,253
– Average annual cost: $50,944
#13. Grambling State University, Louisiana
– Median student debt at graduation: $36,750
– Average annual cost: $16,964
#12. Provo College, Utah
– Median student debt at graduation: $37,000
– Average annual cost: $18,427
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#11. American University of Health Sciences, California
– Median student debt at graduation: $37,584
– Average annual cost: $22,951
#10. Boston Architectural College, Massachusetts
– Median student debt at graduation: $38,739
– Average annual cost: $28,343
#9. Strayer University-District of Columbia, Washington D.C.
– Median student debt at graduation: $40,023
– Average annual cost: $256,174
#8. Everglades University-Orlando, Florida
– Median student debt at graduation: $40,625
– Average annual cost: $30,535
#7. Martin University, Indiana
– Median student debt at graduation: $41,604
– Average annual cost: $14,764
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#6. Eagle Gate College-Layton, Utah
– Median student debt at graduation: $41,639
– Average annual cost: $37,159
#5. Platt College-Aurora, Colorado
– Median student debt at graduation: $41,667
– Average annual cost: $41,735
#4. American Baptist College, Tennessee
– Median student debt at graduation: $43,000
– Average annual cost: $20,631
#3. Huntsville Bible College, Alabama
– Median student debt at graduation: $43,625
– Average annual cost: $19,528
#1. The North Coast College, Ohio
– Median student debt at graduation: $48,148
– Average annual cost: $20,553
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