Grad students' costs balloon

Every year for the past five years, University leaders have proposed campuswide tuition hikes.

And every year for the past five years, the increases have been discussed and debated — with little consideration for the graduate student body at UNC, says Jen Bushman, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation.

“To some degree you get used to it as a graduate student, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to change something,” she said.

Bushman said she works to maintain dialogue with UNC administrators, but when tuition proposals go before the Board of Trustees, the graduate student voice often goes unheard.

On Thursday, the UNC Board of Trustees approved $200 and $950 tuition increases for in-state and out-of-state students, respectively.

Only the 18 percent of the undergraduate population that hails from outside the Tar Heel State might pay a total of $1,000 in increased tuition and fees next year.

But about 40 percent of graduate students could bear the burden of a $950 tuition hike and a $50 athletic fee increase for 2005-06.

Bushman said she perceives a trustee bias in favor of undergraduate students, but she does not see it as intentional.

“Most (trustees) are undergraduate alumni,” Bushman said. “So when they’re thinking about Carolina, (they’re) automatically thinking about (their) memory.

“The default is to think of the undergraduates first.”

Student voice on the University’s governing board already is limited to one seat held by the student body president — historically an undergraduate. This limited access leaves graduate students out of discussions, Bushman said.

Mike Brady, who is running unopposed for GPSF president, said the best way to present graduate interests to trustees — short of vying for another BOT seat — is to work closely with the student body president.

“What it comes down to is just assisting the student body president in setting down as clear and concise an argument for graduate students’ interests as possible,” Brady said.

Bushman said Student Body President Matt Calabria has aptly represented the graduate student population this year, but she noted that “not everyone — by far — has been good as that.”

In an attempt to ensure that trustees are aware and understanding of graduate student issues, Bushman has contacted several trustees and discussed the matter with them.

“We just need to change the paradigm a little bit so we’re on the forefront of their minds,” she said. “We just got to start putting bugs in people’s ears.”

But addressing the interests of both undergraduate and graduate students can present a puzzle to administrators. Often, it is a balancing act, said Trustee Nelson Schwab.

“There are pluses and minuses on both sides of the measure,” Schwab said. “There are certainly legitimate issues on both sides.”

Schwab said the trustees acted in the interest of all students Thursday by considering the recommendation of the Chancellor’s Tuition Task Force — a group composed of graduate and undergraduate student representatives as well as trustees.

“So I think we did have discussion about the disparities between the graduates and undergraduates in the Tuition Task Force,” said Schwab, a member of this year’s task force.

But even with graduate and undergraduate students sharing representation on an advisory body, it can be difficult to provide the two groups with fair play during tuition debates, Schwab said.

While graduate students include a larger population of nonresident students, they benefit from a tuition remission program.

Currently, 1,800 nonresident graduate students and 1,000 resident graduate students receive funds that negate tuition, said Linda Dykstra, dean of the graduate school.

“If you’re an out-of-state student, that brings your tuition to zero, and if you’re an in-state student it brings your tuition to zero,” she said.

The program is aimed at attracting and rewarding UNC’s teaching and research assistants — whose salaries have been considered a major funding priority in recent tuition discussions.

“In part it is for those students who are giving back in terms of providing invaluable teaching support and research support on campus,” Dykstra said.

But the program is at risk if the University continues its current trend of annually increasing out-of-state tuition, Bushman said.

“Increasing distance between the in-state tuition and out-of-state tuition is going to put more strain on the tuition remission,” Bushman said.

Dykstra said graduate school officials have requested an additional $3.5 million over the next two years to fund remissions. She estimated that the money would aid an additional 300 students.

The request is a part of the UNC-system budget proposal, which is expected to go before the N.C. General Assembly during its current session.

While Dykstra is convinced of the importance of the tuition remission program, she is concerned about its reception by state legislators.

“It’s a very big budget, and the next question is ‘What parts of that budget will survive?’” she said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with this legislative session.

“Given the budget deficit we’re facing right now, I don’t see it having a high probability.”

Aside from requesting more funds from lawmakers, Brady said there is just one option for aiding the tuition remission program.

“One of the most important things we can do to help tuition remission is keep tuition itself low,” he said. “There is a single source for tuition remission, so the higher out-of-state tuition is, the more difficult it becomes to cover the costs.

“So ultimately we would like to see out-of-state tuition remain as reasonable as possible.”

Graduate student officials have been discussing the possibility of conducting a price elasticity study to determine the effects of tuition increases on graduate student enrollment.

Though some student officials and administrators have expressed concern that such a study will be difficult to conduct for a population as diverse as graduate and professional students, both current and aspiring GPSF leaders continue to research their options.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.