BOG Begins More Specific Tuition Talks

BOG members met Tuesday to begin examining specific tuition increase requests from UNC-system schools. But most of the discussion at the meeting revolved around how the system will provide quality education and remain accessible during one of the most difficult fiscal situations in state history.

"We hardly have a choice on raising tuition," said BOG member John Davis. "We have more students and less money, something has got to give."

Robert Warwick, BOG Budget and Finance Committee member, announced a proposal calling for the board to approve a 10 percent systemwide tuition increase, which would generate about $40 million across the system. Eighty percent of those funds -- about $32 million -- would fund enrollment growth across the system. Previously, the board was expected to consider a 4.8 percent systemwide tuition increase.

This is about half of the $70 million in enrollment funding that UNC-system officials had made it their top priority to secure from the N.C. General Assembly.

The additional funding -- about $8 million -- would fund need-based aid.

But BOG member Ray Farris said he opposed the proposal because it would set a bad precedent. "We are making a big mistake if we fund enrollment with tuition because we would do it again next year," Farris said. "We would set a bad precedent that is of our own doing."

But other board members countered that the change was the only way for the UNC system to fund enrollment.

"It's a good way for us to go to the General Assembly and say, 'All right, here is our ante -- match it,'" said board member Jim Phillips.

Warwick said a difference between the proposals is that the most recent would also increase out-of-state tuition by 10 percent. In the original proposal, out-of-state tuition would increase by the same dollar amount as for in-state students.

Warwick also proposed a cap on campus-initiated tuition increase requests for this year at $250 for research and doctoral institutions -- which includes UNC-CH -- and the N.C. School of the Arts. Other institutions would have a $200 cap.

Warwick called for an increase in the number of students eligible for financial aid and for all campus-based tuition increases to go only toward financial aid and academic needs.

No vote was taken on the proposal.

On Jan. 24, the UNC-CH Board of Trustees approved a one-year, $400 tuition increase. Thirteen UNC-system schools are expected to bring tuition increase requests of various amounts before the board's March 1 deadline.

UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser, who attended the meeting, said UNC-CH will not present a new proposal.

Moeser also said that he is dissatisfied with the proposed across-the-board tuition increase because some of the funds collected at UNC-CH would flow to other campuses next year. "I don't think that this is going to be well-received at (UNC) Chapel Hill," Moeser said. "I'm very uncomfortable with the way the meeting ended tonight."

"Five million dollars collected at (UNC) Chapel Hill would flow to other campuses."

If the BOG approves Warwick's proposal, in-state tuition at UNC-CH would increase by about $480. The increase would be greater for out-of-state students.

The board is expected to vote on all tuition increases March 6, although Addison Bell, Budget and Finance Committee chairman, suggested that the date could be delayed if necessary.

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