The Old College Try

Trouble for Chris Smith (R-NJ):

Smith’s daughter, who until recently lived with him in the family’s Herndon, Va., home, obtained in-state tuition privileges at a prestigious Virginia university — saving the Smiths $20,000 per year off the $29,000 tuition charged to out-of-state students.

But what Smith saved in cash could end up costing him politically – Democrats says the claim to Virginia residency shows that Smith is out of touch with the New Jersey constituents he’s supposed to represent.

I find this puzzling on several levels. Is UVA really so much more prestigious than Rutgers? Can it really be the case, as Politico says, that Smith “probably didn’t realize he was walking into a political minefield when his family requested a break on his daughter’s huge college bill?” It seems to me that it should be obvious that claiming residency in Virginia while representing New Jersey in congress would be a problem. It used to be routine for members of congress to move their families to DC and become full-time residents of the national capital region, but everyone knows that’s been too politically perilous to count on for a couple of decades now. Besides which, Smith’s district isn’t even a bad commute to DC in the scheme of things.

UPDATE: Okay, it seems that UVA really is more prestigious than Rutgers. I majored in philosophy in college, and Rutgers is a perennial top-five philosophy department so I guess my judgment is distorted.