N.C. Governor’s School to charge tuition

A high school summer program credited with opening the eyes of its participants might not be available much longer for those with limited financial means.

High school students selected to attend N.C. Governor’s School, a six-week summer program that was previously free, will have to pay tuition beginning in summer 2010.

The $500 tuition charge is an attempt to close the gap created by a $475,000 cut to the program’s budget for the next two years.

Across the board, people involved with the program are concerned about how charging tuition could alter the experience for students.

“Charging tuition is going to change the character of the program,” said Michael Fischer, a program instructor for two summers.

“Now it’s going to be more of an elite institution than one that serves all North Carolinians.”

The summer residential program provides academics and fine arts programs at Salem College in Winston-Salem and Meredith College in Raleigh. Each campus hosts 400 students every summer.

The students must be nominated by their high schools and then go through an application process before they are selected.

Fischer said classes that require students to share their opinions are going to be deeply affected.

“You won’t get as many voices or a diversity of opinion,” he said.

Will Brinson, a UNC-Chapel Hill sophomore, agreed. He said the program was perfect for a small-town boy like him because it broadened his perspective.

“It’s going to deter a lot of people from going. It will also skew the backgrounds of the people there because it won’t be as diverse as far as socio-economic background.”

The N.C. General Assembly decided to start charging after discussing other options such as selecting fewer students or limiting the program to one campus.

“There were proposals to cut the program entirely,” said Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, co-chairman of the education committee.

“If you go to any other program, you have to pay several thousand dollars, so the compromise was to start charging tuition.”

Those in charge are still uncertain about how it will impact the program and their selection process.

“We’re still in the internal process of trying to figure out what to do since we’ve never had to do this before,” said Tom Winton, Governor’s School coordinator at the Department of Public Instruction.

High schools have expressed disappointment and concern after hearing about the tuition fee, he said.

“We hope that everything will be done to keep the impact to a minimum,” Winton said. “We don’t want any student to not be able to attend because of lack of income or disposable funds.”

 Anna Diemer, an alumna of the program ­and creator of the Facebook group and blog, “Save N.C. Governor’s School,” said it would be better if the legislators had temporarily cut the program in half.

She said the Governor’s School Alumni Association is trying to provide financial aid to students who can’t afford to pay the tuition.

“There’s a lot of people who can’t afford to pay $500 for six weeks. I want to make this experience available for as many people in North Carolina as I can,” she said.

“(Governor’s School) just really opened my eyes to the world. I consider that to be the time when my brain started working,” she said.


Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.