sentences:  L. Douglas Wilder ordered severe funding cuts to higher education to balance the budget.Cuts to Virginia Tech alone in the 1990-92 biennium totaled $37 million (general fund reductions 1990-96 totaled $46.7 million, but the university was able to offset $16 million, principally by raising tuition).As Virginia dropped to 43rd in the country in state funding for higher education, McComas publicly decried the assault on higher education, resulting in strained relations with Wilder.