Officials Set to Request Funding for Enrollment

UNC-system President Molly Broad said securing enrollment funding will be the top legislative priority for the UNC system in the coming months.

The N.C. General Assembly is scheduled to convene its short session in late May.

Part of the need for additional funding comes from the over-enrollment in the 2001-02 freshman class.

The UNC system had already received $40 million for enrollment growth for the academic year when the legislature approved the state budget last September.

But because the 16 UNC-system campuses enrolled 7,000 additional students -- 1,600 more than the anticipated 5,400 -- they needed an additional $23 million in funding.

The UNC system's enrollment funding is determined by a formula developed by UNC-system administrators. "(The legislature) actually funded the full amount while we overshot because the demand was just greater than we anticipated," Broad said.

Broad also said UNC-system administrators expect enrollment to increase by 3,500 students for the 2002-03 academic year, requiring at least $43 million in additional funding.

The $70 million would be used both to offset the impact of over-enrollment in the 2001-02 freshman class and also to prepare for future enrollment growth.

During Friday's UNC-system Board of Governors meeting, several board members said that despite the state's current economic problems, it is the responsibility of the UNC system to continue increasing enrollment, especially in the wake of the $2.5 billion bond referendum for capital projects that voters approved in November 2000.

"We made a very public pact with the people of North Carolina about providing an opportunity and space for them to attend the university," BOG member Jim Phillips said.

But the state's current fiscal difficulties could make receiving additional funding from the legislature problematic. So far this year, revenue collections have not met the projections budget writers made when constructing the state budget last summer.

Gov. Mike Easley has already ordered a 2.7 percent non-recurring budget cut for the UNC system.

If the state's economy continues to slide, legislators could head back into session looking to make additional budget cuts rather than allocate more funding. BOG member Jim Holshouser said, "We're more likely to get cuts than additional funding (this summer)."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.