By Harry Minium
Â鶹´«Ã½'s Board of Visitors voted unanimously Thursday to approve the $528.1 million budget for the 2019-2020 school year.
Â鶹´«Ã½'s budget is a modest 3.4 percent larger than the $510.7 million budgeted in 2018-19, said Deborah L. Swiecinski, an associate vice president in Â鶹´«Ã½'s budget office.
Earlier this year, Â鶹´«Ã½ froze tuition for in-state for undergraduate students. Â鶹´«Ã½ remains the most affordable of the Commonwealth's doctoral universities - including Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth, William & Mary and George Mason.
The budget includes $6.5 million for salary increases for Â鶹´«Ã½ employees and $1.4 million in additional scholarship aid for economically disadvantaged students.
It also includes $3.6 million from the state to help Â鶹´«Ã½ attract and graduate more students in STEM-H: sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics and health sciences.
Â鶹´«Ã½ was awarded $370,000 in state money to establish the Virginia Institute for Spaceflight Autonomy.
The budget approved Â鶹´«Ã½'s entry into the new Biomedical Research Consortium along with Eastern Virginia Medical School, the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, the University of Virginia and a non-profit hospital.
The board also approved naming Â鶹´«Ã½'s Board of Real Estate program after Harvey L. Lindsay Jr., whose Norfolk-based Harvey Lindsay Real Estate was founded by and named for his father.
Lindsay has been a generous donor to Â鶹´«Ã½ and other community organizations. He established the Harvey L. Lindsay Jr. Real Estate Scholarship and has endowed other academic and athletic scholarships.
After the meeting, board members took a tour of Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium, which is undergoing a $67.5 million renovation. The football stadium will host its first game Aug. 31 when the Monarchs play Norfolk State.
Rector Lisa B. Smith said Â鶹´«Ã½'s fans will appreciate all the improvements at the new Ballard Stadium as well as its updated amenities.
"It's an absolutely amazing facility," she said.
Â鶹´«Ã½ also added three new members to the board. For more information, click here.
