That question is addressed directly in a new post by Richard Vedder at Minding the Campus.

Is the University of Virginia Going Private?

It was bound to happen sooner or later: an important committee at the University of Virginia (UVA) has recommended the de facto privatization of the institution. Specifically, “The University of Virginia and its supporters should initiate a process designed to change the status of the University from a state controlled…and supported entity to a state affiliated or state associated institution.” This is what the “Public University Working Group” is proposing as part of a strategic planning initiative.

In 2005, Virginia began a modest but real partial privatization, and the law school and Darden School of Business consider themselves essentially independent of state control now. And the University’s demographics more resemble those of an elite private school than a typical state university. The percent of students receiving Pell Grants is the same as at Yale and Dartmouth -UVA is, to a considerable extent, already a school for relatively affluent kids. The four-year graduation rate at UVA is 87 percent, identical to the Ivy League average, compared with, say, 26 percent rate at Virginia Commonwealth University. The school gets roughly a tenth of its income from the state now, so the financial consequences of a gradual privatization need not be dire. And, as the report clearly hints, the school hopes and expects more private control will enhance philanthropic donations.

Seems Private Already

Virginia’s endowment already approaches $5 billion, or $250,000 a student. On a per student basis, this is about as high as it gets in public higher education (the University of Texas has a much larger endowment, and the University of Michigan a modestly higher one, but both have much larger enrollments.) It is similar to that at Ivy-League Cornell University. UVA looks like a private school, acts like a private school, so why shouldn’t it be a private school, albeit one with a bow to its historic mission as a public institution serving Virginia residents.