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Tuition increases have been debated within the UNC-system Board of Governors for months now, and when members meet today in Cary, the issue will be put to a vote.

But the board might vote to ask the legislature to repeal an out-of-state tuition increase — which would delay the final decision for several more months.

On Thursday, members met in committees.

The budget and finance committee approved an in-state tuition freeze for next year, passed all system fee increases and approved a list of budget priorities to present to the N.C. General Assembly.

This included asking for a repeal of the legislature-enacted out-of-state tuition increase.

The tuition increase is 12.3 percent at UNC-CH.

All of the committee’s recommendations will go before the full board for a vote today.

The list of budget priorities caused some debate in committee, but the committee’s chairman Louis Bissette said the board should present to the legislature the system’s needs in full.

“We have a statutory duty to make the needs of the university known to the governor and the General Assembly,” he said.

“On the non-resident (tuition) increase (repeal), I don’t believe they’re going to do anything about that, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for the legislature to begin setting tuition increases. I think that’s our responsibility.”

In the board’s public affairs committee meeting later in the day, the Association of Student Governments President Robert Nunnery presented ASG’s state priorities, which included in-state tuition for military students and an amendment to the state’s voting law to allow student IDs.

Teacher quality

The board also met for a policy discussion about teacher quality and performance, in light of changes in the educator workforce in the past two decades—including a 14 percent increase in N.C. teacher turnover since 2011.

The research presented focused on the performance of teachers based on how they were prepared, rather than solely on experience.

A student taught in the same subject by a teacher in the 90th percentile has 40 more days of learning than with the average teacher, while a student taught by a teacher in the 10th percentile loses 52 days of learning.

UNC

A program to better prepare new teachers is being tested in seven UNC-system schools, including UNC-CH. It incoporates a summer institute and classroom-based coaching for first-year teachers.

state@dailytarheel.com

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