Provost Robert Shelton said Sunday that he is in discussions with the system's general administration, concerned that the BOG's proposal -- to increase tuition 12 percent across the board for out-of-state students -- could harm UNC-Chapel Hill's professional programs.
"I'm not sure this is something the BOG was expected to consider," Shelton said. "We're going to take a micro look right now." The talks center on the fact that UNC-CH's professional schools -- namely the schools of medicine, business, dentistry and pharmacy -- could face crippling effects if their nonresident tuitions increased by 12 percent, Shelton said.
The board also approved an 8 percent systemwide increase for in-state students. The two increases were passed with the justification that they would be a solution for funding projected enrollment growth for the UNC system. These funds normally come from the state legislature, but BOG members said they were searching for a short-term solution in light of the state's projected billion-dollar shortfall.
If the 12 percent increase is approved, some schools could incur hikes of more than $2,000, jeopardizing their national competitiveness and ability to attract quality students, officials say. UNC-CH administrators want to downsize the increase to offset these results. "Basically the concern is that, for certain programs, we'd be pricing ourselves out of the market," Shelton said.
This academic year, nonresident students in the medical school's M.D. program pay up to $32,394.38 in tuition for the first two years, and nonresident dental school D.D.S. students pay $12,793.46 per year. Business school nonresidents in the two-year MBA program pay $12,762.46 per year, and pharmacy school nonresidents in the Pharm. D. program pay $9,985.71 per year.
Pharmacy School Dean William Campbell -- whose program's price tag could see an increase of more than $2,500 if the proposal is approved -- said he is not as concerned about the possibility of enrollment decreasing as he is about being able to stay competitive among peer programs. Only about 10 percent of the pharmacy school's students are nonresidents, Campbell said.
"We don't have a large number (of out-of-state students), but I think we would lose the opportunity to admit the cream of the crop and, overall, damage the quality of the program," he said.
In the past two years, professional schools have supported campus-initiated tuition increases. But Campbell said he does not support a systemwide hike because, unlike campus-initiated increases, the dollars do not go directly back to the schools. "(The systemwide increase is) a tax that is not returned to the taxpayers," he said. Shelton said that while talks of reducing the increase are in initial stages, he is confident system officials will fairly consider UNC-CH's proposal. "These are really, really early stages," he said. "They want to hear our concerns."
