Students to Protest Tuition Hikes

The Common Cause Education Fund is organizing a tuition protest rally at noon outside the N.C. Legislative Building in Raleigh, where the N.C. General Assembly meets.

Even though some legislators have been called back to Raleigh to begin working on the state budget for the next fiscal year, the state legislature is not officially slated to convene until late May.

Dennis Markatos, youth coordinator for the Common Cause Educational Foundation, said he expects more than 100 students to attend the rally.

Markatos said the goal of this rally is to let legislators know what students are thinking about tuition.

"We are going to try to help re-connect elected officials with students and with the youth," Markatos said.

Tuition increases have been a persistent topic of debate this year. Despite opposition from students and some board members, the BOG voted in March to raise tuition by 8 percent for in-state students and by 12 percent for out-of-state students.

The revenue will be used to support enrollment growth at the 16 campus schools because state efforts to provide funding are handicapped by a projected budget shortfall of about $1.2 billion for the 2002-03 fiscal year.

The board also voted to raise tuition even more at individual schools, including an additional $300 increase at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The two hikes will increase tuition at UNC-CH by $486 for in-state students and by $1,778 for out-of-state students.

Markatos said he thinks the changes to the tuition system being considered by legislators are vital but believes that alternatives need to be found. "There are other ways to fund the enrollment growth and other important increases," Markatos said.

Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare, and House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, have both said they would spend the upcoming session working to make enrollment increases at the UNC system part of the automatic continuation budget instead of forcing legislators to approve additional funds for every school year.

Markatos said one of the major goals of the rally is to build community support for the student cause. He said he hopes a lot of residents also will join the rally to support the students' cause.

"We hope that everyone in our state sacrifices for our state," Markatos said.

Andrew Payne, UNC-system Association of Student Governments president, said the rally still will make legislators aware of student concerns even if the lawmakers are not meeting.

"We are just trying to draw attention," he said. "The committees are meeting, even though they're meeting behind closed doors, but the leadership is there."

Payne said ASG officials and other student leaders are lending support to the coalition's efforts. "We want to join with anybody who fights against tuition increases."

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