Tuition Committee Recommends 1-Year, $400 Increase

After more than two hours of discussion, task force members decided to recommend only a one-year tuition increase so that input from the BOT, the UNC-system Board of Governors and the N.C. General Assembly could be incorporated into a long-term proposal.

The decision to recommend that the BOT adopt a one-year tuition increase represents a departure from the multiyear plans the task force has discussed up to this point.

The task force proposed that the revenue from a tuition increase plan be split between raising faculty salaries to the average of peer public institutions and hiring 135 new faculty to reduce the student-faculty ratio in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

To achieve these objectives, Provost Robert Shelton, who is a co-chairman of the task force, said UNC-CH would need almost $39 million in permanent funds.

Shelton, who has set a Jan. 17 deadline for formalizing the task force's recommendations, now will write up the proposal.

Campus groups will have the opportunity to review the proposal before the BOT acts on it Jan. 24.

"The consensus seems to be to make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees for a one-year campus-based tuition increase, but we must cast it in the framework of a long-term approach," Shelton said.

"We can collaborate with our counterparts like N.C. State (University), work with various boards and the legislature and reaffirm this is a partnership between all of us."

Most of the meeting's discussion was spurred by three scenarios drafted by Shelton, which outlined proposals for five-year annual increases of $200, $400 and $600.

Shelton said 40 percent of any campus-based increase will be reserved for financial aid -- 35 percent for need-based aid for all students and 5 percent specifically for graduate students.

After a discussion of how Shelton arrived at the numbers contained in the three scenarios, task force members began debating the merits of a one-year plan as opposed to a more long-term schedule.

Trustee Rusty Carter, a member of the task force, said he is in favor of a long-term approach to ensure predictability in tuition setting and to make sure the increase is effective.

"A multiyear plan does a number of things -- it articulates you have a multiyear problem, for one," he said.

But Trustee Tim Burnett said he wants to see more discussion between UNC-CH and other institutions before passing a multiyear plan.

"If you did a one-year plan and came back, you would have time to consult with other campuses and take leadership and take time to look at where the money will go without time pressure," he said.

The discussion then moved to the amount of the increase, and although no member argued for a specific amount, student task force member Eric Johnson and Student Body President Justin Young expressed worry that a large increase would convince applicants they could not afford UNC-CH.

"What tears me apart inside is that I know we have to (raise tuition) ... but I'm haunted by the idea that one student in the state will be dissuaded because he won't think he can afford it," Johnson said.

The task force ultimately voted 7-3 to recommend a $400 increase, which members said would send a strong signal about the dire financial needs of the University and would also be consistent with the tuition proposal that a similar task force sent to the BOT in 1999.

"It is consistent with the thoughtful approach that has been used in the past," said task force member Shirley Ort. "I speak in favor of a $400 increase."

Carter, Johnson and student task force member James Alstrum-Acevedo were the only members to vote against the $400 proposal. Task force members Rebekah Burford, Bill Maixner and Risa Palm were not present for the vote.

But members said the proposal was only the beginning of their work.

"I would make a case that the solution is in next year's plan," Carter said.

"We need to keep in focus that this (proposal) is part of something else, and we don't know what that something else is yet."

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