BOT Talks Of Growth, Tuition

Trustees approved tuition increases and discussed Master Plan blueprints at the Board of Trustees meetings Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.

The BOT approved large tuition increases for five of UNC's professional schools Wednesday, and the matter will now be put before the Board of Governors, which will meet in January.

Chancellor James Moeser articulated the need for the increases to the board members at Thursday's meeting.

"Ultimately, the tuition increases will benefit the state of North Carolina by continuing to produce the quality professionals the state needs," Moeser said.

If they pass, the tuition increases will affect the Kenan-Flagler Business School, the School of Dentistry, the School of Law, the School of Medicine and the School of Pharmacy.

In-state increases would range from $2,202 over three years for the pharmacy school to $8,500 over four years for the business school.

Out-of-state increases would range from $1,200 over three years for the pharmacy school to $8,000 over four years for the business school.

The funds from the increases would go toward student financial assistance, faculty salaries and hiring new professors.

The trustees reconvened Thursday to discuss the Master Plan with architects and Chapel Hill neighbors. The BOT must approve the Master Plan before it can be made a reality.

While much of the meeting was spent reviewing the Master Plan as a whole, the point of greatest discussion was the proposed road and transit corridor on South Campus. Four different options were presented, two of which show the corridor running through several residents' homes near Mason Farm Road.

Trustee Stick Williams asked the board not to make any contentious decisions about the corridor. "We've got an extraordinary Master Plan," Williams said. "When you look at it, 99 percent is a great piece of work. I don't want to put that 99 percent at risk."

The BOT will meet Jan. 25 to officially review the final drafts of the plan, and Adam Gross, a principal in the architectural firm that developed the Master Plan, said he hopes to present the completed plan to the public in the spring.

Projects outside the Master Plan were on the agenda as well. During his remarks Thursday, Moeser mentioned the recent discussion of UNC development on the Horace Williams Tract.

The land is owned by the University, but several town facilities are located on it. The Chapel Hill Town Council asked UNC on Monday night to come forward with its plans for the land.

Moeser said there have been several newspaper articles lately about the planning committee and some of them contain serious distortions.

"The fact is that this is a large, very open committee, despite what some accounts have indicated," he said.

The BOT also heard a presentation on Carolina First, a capital funding campaign. Paul Fulton, the campaign co-chairman, said the preliminary goal is to raise $1.5 billion by 2006, $165 million of which was raised last year.

"We're in a partnership with our state, and the state has stepped up clearly," Fulton said, referring to the passage of the bond. "Now we have to step up and do our part."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.