Last semester, the UNC-CH Chancellor's Committee on Student Fees recommended a fee increase of 8 percent for undergraduate students and 8.2 percent for graduate students. This translates into a $62.10 increase for students in each group, which would be implemented for the fall 2002 semester.
Roger Patterson, UNC-CH associate vice chancellor for finance and chairman of the committee, said the UNC-CH Board of Trustees passed the proposed increase at its Sept. 27 meeting and that the proposal is now in the hands of Broad.
He said if Broad approves the proposal, she will then send it to the UNC-system Board of Governors, which will vote on the increase at its March 6 meeting.
Patterson said the fee increase was needed for reasons such as inflation and the employee salaries. Early in the fall, every campus service or organization requesting student fees must give a presentation before the Student Fee Audit Committee, which then will review the requests and forward them to the chancellor's committee. Based on these requests, the committee drafts what it considers to be an appropriate fee increase.
Patterson said many of the services and organizations that requested fees this year, such as Student Health Service, are self- operating, which means the N.C. General Assembly does not provide these groups with funding. Patterson said many groups depend upon student fees for funding.
Student Body Vice President Rudy Kleysteuber said another reason a fee increase is needed is because organizations such as Academic Technology & Networks want to provide students with more services that required extra funding.
The amount of the $62.10 recommended increase resulted from the size of past fee increases and a request from the BOT, Kleysteuber said.
Patterson said increasing fees each year has become typical.
Past fee increases did not adequately cover inflationary costs, Kleysteuber said, and this year the BOT wanted to ensure the increase would be adequate. "In fact, this year was one of the first years that the BOT requested a minimum increase of 3.5 percent to cover inflation."
