Group meets to campaign for more college funding

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff

Grow by Degrees, a campaign to increase funding for Virginia’s higher education institutions and add 70,000 new degrees over the next decade, held a meeting at Virginia Highlands Community College on Oct. 28.
Sponsored by the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, the grassroots educational initiative is funded by the private sector.
“If you want to make Virginia the economy capital of America we have to first make it the work force and higher education capital of the world,” said member Jay Poole.
He said Virginia needs more people well-educated and well-trained in science and math.
According to a press release, a study conducted by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia found that for every dollar the state spends on the public higher education system, it generates $13.31 of economic activity and $1.39 in increased tax revenues that flow back to the state.
The study also found that public higher education in Southwest Virginia is responsible for $4.755 billion in annual contribution to state’s gross domestic product, 20 percent of total GDP in Virginia attributed to higher education, 23,473 jobs created by higher education operations and $500 million in annual tax revenues generated for Virginia.
CGI Vice President in Lebanon Mark Eschle said CGI did an extensive search before opening their Lebanon location. He said they chose Southwest Virginia because of its education system and the number of underemployed talent in the region. He said they initially ran 150 people through fast-track training and have a commitment to hire 300 jobs within the first three years.
“There’s a real opportunity to bring back training,” he said. “The statistics uphold what we’ve been seeing with investment in hire education… If we can do it in Lebanon, we can do it anywhere.”
Representatives from Johnston Memorial Hospital were also on hand at the meeting. They said Johnston Memorial works closely with the community college through the nursing program and ends up hiring 60 percent.
Virginia Highlands Community College President David Wilkin said the state has been backing away from funding higher education.
“In 20 years our budget has not changed … even though we’ve absorbed additional responsibility,” Wilkin said. “We’ve got reduced state funding but increased student enrollment.”