Student Body President Justin Young and Vice President Rudy Kleysteuber said they are considering the possibility of polling the student body once a recently formed tuition committee makes its recommendation.
"It would let students show their support for the increase or vote against it if they don't think it is the right thing to do," Kleysteuber said.
Provost Robert Shelton is the chairman of the tuition committee and said he supports the referendum idea. "We would be happy to have students (vote)," he said. "Student opinion is weighed heavily on campus."
The campuswide vote aims to give students a larger role in whether a tuition hike first mentioned by Chancellor James Moeser in his Sept. 5 State of the University address is adopted.
The UNC Board of Trustees took its first formal action on a campus-based tuition increase at its Nov. 15 meeting when the trustees asked for the formation of a committee to evaluate the need for a hike. The committee will be responsible for drafting a proposal for the BOT to vote on at its Jan. 24 meeting.
Students also will participate in the 12-member tuition committee, which Shelton has begun to name. Eric Johnson, a senior from Greensboro, and Rebekah Burford, a sophomore from Raleigh, were selected as the two undergraduate representatives.
Johnson and Burford will be joined by one graduate student, four faculty members, three administrators and three BOT members, including Chairman Tim Burnett. The graduate student and one faculty member have not yet been named.
Young said he also will play a part in the committee, although Shelton was unclear in what capacity.
Shelton said the committee will meet only three times because of time constraints created by final exams and Winter Break. "We are under a short timeline, so we are going to have to work pretty hard."
