5-Year Hike Plans Take Back Seat

But UNC-system officials now say they are loaded down with other priorities and have yet to act on a proposal calling for all 16 system schools to construct five-year tuition plans.

The UNC-system Board of Governors approved a proposal Jan. 11 that requires all system schools to develop collaborative five-year tuition plans.

The BOG Budget and Finance Committee decided at its Feb. 7 meeting that the five-year plans should be bumped up a year, requiring universities to present their proposals in the fall.

UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Robert Shelton said the administration plans to have the University's five-year tuition planning committee identified by April. He said that ideally the group would be able to make progress during the summer and intensify efforts in the fall to meet the BOG's deadline.

The BOG last met March 6, when it voted on campus-initiated and systemwide tuition increases but did not further address long-term tuition planning.

Though the board has devoted little time recently to a systemwide five-year tuition plan, BOG Chairman Ben Ruffin said long-term plans remain a priority.

But he said other issues are more pressing. Ruffin said the board is focusing its attention on the N.C. General Assembly, which it plans to lobby to fully finance enrollment growth funding and to shift it from the state's expansion budget to its continuation budget.

He said that the BOG will discuss long-term planning more extensively this summer and that when it does members will address schools on an individual basis.

"We want to look at five-year plans on an individual basis, not by classification," Ruffin said.

Board members previously indicated that they would emphasize collaboration in long-term planning, especially among universities with the same classification like UNC-CH and N.C. State University.

Shelton said communication between the administrations and long-term tuition planning committees at UNC-CH and N.C. State will be encouraged.

But he said the two schools will not directly align policy, noting that the universities have different individual missions and campus compositions.

Ruffin said the BOG will not push systemwide collaboration but that cooperation on individual campuses will be encouraged. The board intends to make student input an integral part of long- term planning, Ruffin said.

UNC-system Association of Student Governments President Andrew Payne said he wants to see extensive student involvement in the long-term tuition planning process.

Payne said long-term tuition planning is long overdue and is a pertinent issue for administrators and students alike. "It's a big issue for students because we want to see some type of long-range planning," he said. "We have long-range planning in every other aspect of the university."

Shelton said long-term tuition plans hinge on decisions about this year's tuition increase. He said UNC-CH administrators have not acted on the BOG's request that universities develop five-year tuition planning committees because they have been bogged down dealing with the BOG's tuition-increase proposal.

"We've been caught up coping with the BOG action, which we aren't pleased with," Shelton said.

The BOG has proposed an 8 percent systemwide tuition increase for in-state students and a 12 percent increase for out-of-state students. Traditionally, the BOG has not raised systemwide tuition by more than 5 percent, Shelton said.

In addition to the systemwide increase, the board approved a $300, campus initiated tuition increase for UNC-CH, which requested a $400 increase.

Shelton said that although the UNC-CH administration has temporarily been swamped with tasks relating to the BOG's tuition increase proposal, University officials will soon finalize the function and composition of the University's five-year tuition planning committee.

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