The UNC-system Board of Governors' decision Friday to pass a one-year moratorium on tuition increases leaves campus officials, who approved a tuition hike proposal in December, waiting on word from the state legislature.
Meanwhile, UNC-Chapel Hill's tuition proposal remains in limbo.
Despite a unanimous recommendation from the BOG to freeze rising tuition costs for a year after increases in each of the past three years, UNC-CH officials think the N.C. General Assembly might decide to pass a systemwide tuition hike anyway.
Chancellor James Moeser said Monday there is no guarantee the legislature will either overrule or support the BOG decision.
A proposal from the UNC-CH Tuition Task Force called for a three-year, $1,050 tuition increase to combat disparities in faculty, staff and teaching assistant salaries and to grant additional financial aid. It was designed to raise about $24 million.
But if the legislature decides to increase tuition systemwide to alleviate the state's budget crisis, both the amount and uses for the increase could change significantly. Traditionally, systemwide increases have been used to offset inflation or to fund broad needs rather than for faculty salaries or other campus-specific needs.
Moeser said that UNC-CH's proposal is a good three-year plan and that he is concerned the BOG's decision will affect the plan to raise salaries for campus employees and financial aid money. "It definitely hurts the campus," he said.
Student Body President Jen Daum had a mixed response to the BOG decision itself. "I'm pleased that the BOG is taking action after many years of (tuition) hikes," she said. Daum added that if the legislature were to pass tuition increases and not allow campuses to do it at their own discretion, financial aid money for students might not be included.
Forty percent of the money that would have been generated by the task force's proposal would go to financial aid for students.
