Tuition could rise if state won’t budge

UNC-system President Erskine Bowles is hinging his tuition plans for the system on a legislative repeal that is not guaranteed — and it could mean that tuition would increase.

Bowles has requested that the N.C. General Assembly swap its plan to retain tuition revenue for the state’s general fund with his proposal to give the money back to the UNC system.

But if the legislature denies Bowles’ request, it’s possible the UNC-system Board of Governors could be forced to further increase tuition to fully fund financial aid, said Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the board.

The board won’t know whether that’s a possibility until the legislature convenes in May.

“No one wants to arbitrarily raise tuition more than we have to unless we are backed into a corner,” Gage said. “The last thing we would want to do is have (legislators) raise it and have us raise it as well. That’s plan B.”

Bowles’ recommended increases align with campus-based proposals that are equal to or lower than the increases required by the legislature. The tuition recommendations are expected to be approved today.

The state mandate requires schools to raise tuition by the lesser of $200 or 8 percent.

That averages out to 7.2 percent or $180 for resident undergraduates throughout the system. Under Bowles’ plan, the average increase would be only 5.2 percent, or $131.

Bowles wants 50 percent of that money to be used for need-based aid and for the rest to be split between improvements to retention and graduation rates and other critical needs.

As it stands now, tuition revenue this year will go directly to the state’s general fund, which legislators said is needed to help make up a $4.6 billion state budget shortfall.

“Hopefully, if we do our job in communicating the necessity in keeping the money, the General Assembly will agree,” Gage said.

The challenge is balancing the system’s financial needs with low tuition not only for 2010-11 but in long-term planning as well, Gage said.

Making further cuts in the system to address universities’ financial needs would hurt academics, Bowles said.

“We can cut 2 percent more on the administrative side, but anything else will have to come from the academic side, and that will lead to a low-quality education,” Bowles said, citing 900 administrative jobs cut in the fall.

To figure out how to balance budget cuts with academic quality, Gage said she wants to appoint a task force in the next four to six weeks to re-examine the system’s four-year tuition plan.

A lack of state funding caused the 32 percent tuition increase in the University of California system and the 15 percent increase for Florida’s public universities, Gage said.

The potential for that to happen here revealed the need for a task force, she said.

“Looking down the road, we have to make sure we have enough flexibility to protect our institutions,” she said.

John Davis III, chairman of the budget and finance committee, said it was the system’s dedication to low-cost tuition that have caused UNC to be recognized nationwide, especially by the Board of Regents governing the University of California system.

“The UNC system is the model for other universities. It used to be Michigan ­­— it’s not anymore,” Davis said.

The full Board of Governors will vote today on Bowles’ recommendations. If approved, they will be sent on to the legislature for consideration when it reconvenes in May 2010.



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