ASG delegates settled on several goals for the coalition, including allocating more money to universities from the state budget, but were unable to unanimously agree whether a tuition freeze was a desirable goal.
ASG President Andrew Payne said convincing the N.C. General Assembly to adopt a tuition freeze is necessary because the burden of paying for an education at a public university in North Carolina is unfairly being placed on students.
But UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body President Justin Young said there are several questions preventing an agreement, including whether the tuition freeze the ASG would support would allow for inflationary UNC-system Board of Governors increases. "The direct result was that there wasn't any resolution," he said.
UNC-CH has formed a committee to consider the campus' second campus-initiated tuition increase in two years, and ASG members said they were concerned other campuses might consider raising tuition as well.
Payne said that according to the state constitution, all residents are guaranteed access to North Carolina's public institutions. "This isn't about our campuses not needing money," he said. "It's about who should pay it."
Payne added that the coalition, which will aim to build a foundation of student support on each campus, is essential to the ASG's long-term goal of establishing itself as a true representative body of UNC-system students.
But some ASG delegates expressed uncertainty about the feasibility of a tuition freeze. Greg Drumwright, an ASG delegate from N.C. Agricultural & Technical State University, said he does not think a complete tuition freeze is an appropriate goal. He said he thinks legislators -- who approved a retroactive tuition increase in September as part of the state budget -- will laugh if faced with such a demand. "Legislators don't necessarily have education at the top of their list," he said. "With a major (budget) crisis, do you seriously think they'd entertain (a freeze)?"
Young said he thinks the ASG must examine examples from other states -- like Wisconsin -- that have frozen tuition.
But Payne said that by rallying students for a tuition freeze, the ASG's other goals will be accomplished because students will be excited about participating.
