Grant-giving group finds Virginia colleges lacking - Janie Bryant, The Virginian-Pilot

For more than half a century, the Beazley Foundation has invested millions of dollars into college-bound students and the Virginia colleges and universities they attend. Last year, the foundation's trustees commissioned a study to check on their investment. What they learned troubled them. Students at liberal arts schools are not being exposed to a comprehensive core curriculum of classes, the study told them when it was released Jan. 30. And the cost of getting a degree has increased so much that many are priced out of the dream altogether. The trustees voted to suspend grants to undergraduate liberal arts schools in Virginia until they come up with a plan to ensure the funding goes to the best-performing institutions.