Online courses not spared tuition hike
Carolina Courses Online has not been exempt from this year’s tuition increases.
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Carolina Courses Online has not been exempt from this year’s tuition increases.
A recommendation to the UNC-system Board of Governors to charge tuition by the credit hour could inhibit students from taking more classes.
When members of UNC’s tuition and fee advisory task force took their seats in South Building for Thursday’s meeting, the scene didn’t look too different from last fall.
If the University were only financially supported by tuition and fees, all students and faculty members would be enjoying summer — or early fall — vacation by now.
In the next three months, the UNC-system Board of Governors will be reviewing the Four Year Tuition Plan, which was created in 2006 by system President Erskine Bowles to provide more stability to the tuition process.
FAYETTEVILLE — Student leaders from across the state met this weekend to discuss their role in future tuition decisions by the UNC-system Board of Governors.
Students were asked to give their opinion on the possibility of further tuition increases.
For the last two years, faculty members and administrators have been bearing the brunt of millions of dollars in budget cuts to the UNC system. But an additional $70 million cut this year led the system’s leaders to move to “Plan B” — the students.
When the University’s electronic tuition bills became available in late July, an additional $750 increase came as a shock to students anticipating 5.2 percent hike.
Armed with drums and signs, a group of students and other UNC community members will march through campus at 4 p.m. today to protest budget cuts and tuition increases. The protest corresponds with the National Day of Action to Defend Education, a series of rallies and other protest activities occurring across the country today. After a rally in the Pit, the students have planned a 47-minute sit-in at South Building: 17 minutes to represent cut class sections, 15 minutes for undocumented student solidarity and 15 minutes to represent laid-off workers. Ben Carroll, member of Students for a Democratic Society and protest organizer, said the group is aware its sit-in will violate UNC’s rule against sit-ins past 5 p.m. and that protesters are prepared for the possibility of being arrested, though they do not expect that to happen. The group will also talk about admissions policies for undocumented immigrants and privatization of some University services, as well as deliver a petition with two other budget-related demands. Carroll, N.C. Rep. Ray Rapp, D-Madison, who serves on the education committee, and Dwayne Pinkney, assistant vice chancellor for finance and administration, gave their take on some of the demands: ‘Chop from the top’ The demand: Costs should be saved by cutting at the administrative level. Carroll: “Administrators should cut from their own salaries instead of cutting classes and adding to student fees.” Rapp: “UNC is the leader in this as a result of the Bain study, in which a number of middle management positions have been eliminated to cut the overhead in administration at the University. . Your chancellor, Holden Thorp, is a nationally recognized leader in this model, and he’s saving millions and millions of dollars at Chapel Hill.” Pinkney: “The efforts that have been underway for more than a year now … really do focus the reductions away from academics and onto the administration.” ‘Use UNC lobbying power’ The demand: The UNC system should lobby for an increase in corporate taxes to cover budget shortfalls. Carroll: “UNC has the second biggest lobby in North Carolina, and they need to lobby for alternative ways to raise money without gutting education.” Rapp: “To simply say, let’s tax corporations so we can have money for tuition is grossly and overly simplistic. As we look at the overall tax structure, it needs to be overhauled, and the University will benefit from that.” Pinkney“We are interested in articulating our needs instead of attempting to instruct the legislature on how to acquire the revenue.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
The UNC-system Board of Governors unanimously approved a set of tuition increases Friday, but students shouldn’t start writing their checks just yet.The board and UNC-system President Erskine Bowles have asked legislators to swap their tuition plan, finalized Friday, with the plan approved by the legislature in August.If the legislature denies their request, the campuses simply won’t have enough money, Bowles said.The UNC-system plan, which averages out to a 5.2 percent tuition increase systemwide, requests that tuition revenue come back to the campuses.Fifty percent of revenue would go to financial aid, 25 percent to improving graduation and retention rates and 25 percent to other critical needs.“The approach we’ve made is good sense,” Bowles said Friday.“It provides needed resources for need-based aid and improving retention and graduation. We need some additional support there.”They won’t know the decision until the legislature convenes in May.Administrative costs have been trimmed so much that only two percent more can be cut from there, Bowles said.“I think we can manage through the two percent cut that’s in the current draft of the budget. Beyond that, it will be a lot of pain to the academic side,” he said.“If I were the students, that’s where I would be concerned.”The legislature-initiated plan mandates that tuition revenue remain in the state’s general fund and raises tuition by the lesser of $200 or 8 percent.Board of Governors Chairwoman Hannah Gage also indicated that tuition could also be raised further as a last resort.“No one wants to arbitrarily raise tuition more than we have to unless we are backed into a corner,” Gage said Thursday.“The last thing we would want to do is have (legislators) raise it and have us raise it as well. That’s plan B.”The increases in the plan approved by the Board of Governors align with the increases recommended by individual campuses.Those increases place less financial burden on residents and more on nonresidents, said UNC-system Vice President for Finance Rob Nelson.The system has received no indication from the legislature whether it will consider replacing its own tuition plan with the one put forward by the UNC system, Nelson said. Assistant State & National Editor Tarini Parti contributed reporting.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Governors unanimously approved a set of tuition increases Friday, but students shouldn’t start writing their checks just yet.
The student body president has always faced difficulties when it comes to tuition — namely balancing student interests with UNC’s fiscal needs. But next year’s chief student representative could face greater challenges than usual.
Some state legislators say chances are slim that the UNC system will see any of the revenue generated by the state-mandated tuition increase.
UNC system leaders announced Thursday that they will push for tuition increases lower than the amount mandated by the state legislature.
This article was published in the 2009 Year in Review issue of The Daily Tar Heel.
On the same day the University of California system voted to increase undergraduate tuition by an unprecedented 32 percent, UNC administrators voted for a tuition proposal that demonstrated their resistance to high tuition.The UNC Board of Trustees voted unanimously Thursday morning for a 5.2 percent tuition increase for all undergraduate students, bringing to a close campus discussions over the proposed hike. If approved by UNC-system President Erskine Bowles, the system’s Board of Governors and the state legislature, the proposal would increase resident tuition by $200. For nonresident students, undergraduate tuition would increase by $1,127, and graduate tuition would go up $732.But many trustees voiced concerns about the impact of the University’s low tuition rates compared to other schools on the quality of education the school can provide in the future, especially in the face of uncertain state revenues.“I am really, really concerned about what we’re doing with tuition,” said John Ellison, who has served as a trustee since 2003. “There is a huge disparity between our tuition and that of our peers. It’s getting wider and wider.”Senior Rakhee Devasthali, who was one of several students who protested a committee meeting Wednesday, also addressed the trustees, chastising them for a tuition process that she said lacked transparency and student input.“You better come up with some better numbers,” she said. “This is not fair or democratic. You’re running these things like it’s a corporation, not like a University.”UNC’s tuition remains low compared to those of its public academic peers.In the 2009-10 year, the group of public institutions that UNC considers its academic peers raised resident undergraduate tuition by an average of 9.4 percent, as compared to UNC’s increase of 4.2 percent. And this year, many of those universities are set to raise tuition even more.Many states have been driven to do so by significant budget shortfalls. This year, the California legislature slashed $637 million from its 10-school system.The state of North Carolina and UNC have not faced similar problems, still receiving a significant share of its revenue from the state. This allows schools to rely less on tuition.Whether that support can continue if the economy doesn’t improve is still a question trustees mentioned Thursday.Trustee and Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Phillip Clay said he is worried about planning for a long-term financial crisis.“We don’t know what the future will be, but I think that we are dealing with a budget situation that is not short-term,” he said.Ellison said members would have to seriously reconsider low tuition rates in the future.“I understand it’s a difficult year, but I am telling you all that this University is not going to maintain its academic standing in the world if we continue down the path we keep going down,” he said.Tuition increases help pay for financial aid, faculty retention and academic services. This year’s increase will bring in about $4 million. UNC’s total revenue is about $2.3 billion.Thorp said he thinks the trustees are justified in their concern about the UNC’s long-term success under a low-tuition model, but doesn’t know how to go about discussing this issue, especially in an economic downturn.“We’re just happy that everything passed,” Thorp said. “The student body president and the trustees and the administration all wanted the same thing, and that doesn’t happen too often.”Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
UNC's Board of Trustees voted unanimously this morning in favor of a 5.2 percent tuition increase for all undergraduate students, bringing to a close campus discussions of the proposed hike. The proposal will now go to UNC-system President Erskine Bowles for approval.
Correction (Dec. 29 9:03 p.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that there were two students on the UNC-CH Tuition Task Force, the Student Body President and the Student Body Vice-President. There are actually three students, as the GPSF President, Keith Lee is also on the task force. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
The UNC-system Board of Governors proposed a plan Thursday to balance the universities’ and state’s needs for additional money while keeping tuition costs down for students.UNC-system President Erskine Bowles also said he does not want campuses to raise in-state tuition by more than the $200 mandated by the legislature. UNC-Chapel Hill’s tuition and fee advisory task force recommended a larger increase Wednesday.“In no case can in-state tuition go higher than $200,” Bowles said. “I’m a low-tuition guy. I don’t think students need to be the primary source of funding.”Bowles’ plan would allow universities to draw money back from the tuition hike already instituted by the state legislature instead of further increasing tuition.The N.C. General Assembly mandated in the budget passed this summer a tuition increase by the lesser of $200 or 8 percent for all students. The revenue from that tuition increase goes to the state’s general fund, rather than going directly to the system.“Students are paying more and we are not getting quality improvements,” said John Davis III, chairman of the board’s budget and finance committee.Bowles said he will lobby legislators to allow universities to keep at least 50 percent of the revenue generated by money now lost to the state. Those funds would help make up for the $12 million less in need-based financial aid the UNC system received this year.Bowles said he wants the other half of the funds to go toward improving retention and graduation rates. Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.