Students Must Attend BOG Vote

By Wednesday afternoon, students must prove to the BOG that we understand North Carolina's complicated financial situation and that we are willing to find an effective compromise to maintain the quality of a UNC-Chapel Hill education.

By our presence at the meeting, we must prove to the BOG that we are an informed critical mass ready to negotiate a reasonable and effective tuition increase -- an increase from which UNC-CH students would clearly benefit.

Since 1995, there have been too many arbitrary tuition increases in the UNC-system, and we can't let this cycle of reactionary tuition increases continue any longer.

Student government has tried tuition petitions, Web sites that send mass e-mails to BOG members and even a recent letter-writing campaign, but we need much more -- we need a strategy that faces the financial facts. Although the BOG seems sensitive to meeting 100 percent of financial need, it seems to need convincing that we value our education so much that we are indeed willing to pay for it -- as long as BOG members keep student limitations in mind.

At at time of severe fiscal constraints on the UNC system, a tuition increase seems inevitable. If the BOG caps campus-initiated tuition increases from five schools, including UNC-CH, at $250 and passes a 10 percent systemwide increase without a strong fight from students, however, we'll live to regret it.

We might be fighting a losing battle with BOG members coming into the meeting with closed minds, but their hearts might be opened a bit by a huge student presence.

BOG members might be reminded of how vaguely worded the tuition increases have been -- how uncertain it seems that these increases will be used for the right purposes.

It seems sad that all student government has done lately has been write letters to BOG members and set up a Web site.

Isn't there more we can do? Do UNC students fully understand the tuition increases? Can we educate the BOG and all students by Wednesday? At a dire time in N.C. fiscal history, students have to push for fair and effective tuition increases, rather than just protest increases in general.

If students and administrators don't come together on Wednesday with an informed and reasonable strategy to fight unreasonable tuition increases, not only will our tuition be raised, but the raised monies might not accomplish the goals the UNC-CH Board of Trustees originally intended.

What's worse: the extra money might not even stay in Chapel Hill.

The BOG will be deciding two issues: How much of the $400, campus-initiated increase requested by the BOT to improve faculty salaries is necessary, and by what percentage should UNC-system tuition be raised, if at all, to manage enrollment growth and need-based financial aid?

If the BOG proposal of a $250 cap on campus-initiated increases and a 10 percent systemwide increase passes, in-state UNC-CH tuition will increase by $480 and much more for out-of-state students.

The 10 percent systemwide proposal would subsidize enrollment growth in addition to aid -- but no one seems to know what that means in practice.

Since UNC-CH meets 100 percent of our aid requirements and anticipates limited growth, much of the raised funds with the 10 percent increase -- at least $5 million -- would be redirected to other schools, a plan called downright unfair by Chancellor James Moeser. The BOG plan, brought forth by BOG member Robert Warwick, will cause UNC-CH students to pay more without getting much in return.

BOG member John Davis said at a Feb. 19 BOG tuition workshop, "We hardly have a choice on raising tuition. We have more students and less money, and something has to give."

There's no question that student wallets will give, but BOG members do have a very specific and complicated choice on Wednesday.

Let's help them make the right decision with an informed student voice.

Columnist Katy Nelson can be reached at knelson@email.unc.edu.