SBP candidates share plans for future tuition

Although all four student body president candidates have plans to prevent future tuition hikes, none were present Thursday when the Board of Trustees voted to raise out-of-state tuition by $950 and in-state tuition by $200.

Seke Ballard and Seth Dearmin said conflicting schedules kept them from attending. “I believe my academics are suffering,” Ballard said, noting that campaigning takes a lot of his time.

Leigha Blackwell and Tom Jensen said they chose to spend Thursday morning campaigning. “We’re keeping up with (tuition talks),” Blackwell said.

Jensen said campaigning provides an important opportunity to present his plans for tuition. “If I lose the election, it really doesn’t matter what any of my ideas are,” he said.

While Student Body President Matt Calabria acknowledged the candidates’ busy schedules, he said he was surprised by their absence.

“Being a trustee is one of the most important, if not the most important, roles that the student body president has,” he said.

Despite their absences, candidates said they understand that tuition is increasing annually, and they’ve outlined ways to ease the burden on students in their platforms.

Dearmin and Blackwell stressed that stabilization of tuition costs is key to fixing the problem.

“People come here expecting to pay a certain amount,” Dearmin said. “The biggest piece of conversation needs to be tuition predictability.”

Dearmin said he would work with the UNC-system Board of Governors and state legislators to achieve predictability.

Blackwell said she wants to implement a system modeled after successful ones at other schools, specifically the University of Illinois system, which provides fixed tuition rates for four years.

“(We’ll) see what worked for them, what didn’t and try to apply it,” she said.

Taking a different approach, Jensen is proposing a “Quality Student Retention Fund” that would offer alumni the option of donating money to a fund connected to tuition, relieving stress on increases.

Jensen said he is confident that alumni will want to ensure that UNC-Chapel Hill students receive a quality education.

“We’re not going to get the best students (with tuition hikes),” Jensen said. “We’re going to get the most wealthy students, and we don’t want that.”

Using what he calls a “grassroots effort” to take on tuition, Ballard said he plans to send letters to the General Assembly from parents and guardians of UNC-CH students expressing their disapproval.

Ballard also plans to work with the Association of Student Governments to spawn organizations among all UNC-system schools that would lobby the General Assembly.

With faculty retention issues also looming, all four candidates said they will strive to find a balance.

Blackwell said the University can’t afford to lose good teachers.

“Our faculty is obviously so important to the University,” Blackwell said. “We need to make sure they are compensated for.”

Dearmin said minor changes in tuition must be expected to secure top-flight faculty members.

“Saying there will be no tuition increases isn’t feasible,” he said. “It really is that balance between an affordable education and a quality education.”

Assistant University Editor Jenny Ruby contributed to this article.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.