Student officials protest tuition

The battle about tuition recently has taken a new turn, as members of student government are voicing their concerns about what they say are inequitable hikes in costs for out-of-state students.

The University's Board of Trustees will convene next week to approve a campus-based tuition increase. Student officials are trying to gain backing for smaller nonresident increases, a move that isn't favored by top UNC officials.

Student Body President Matt Calabria is discussing tuition plans with Chancellor James Moeser today.

Calabria, who served as co-chairman of the Tuition Task Force, said he wants to underscore the fact that many students oppose the increase Moeser publicly supports: a $250 increase for in-state students and a $1,200 increase for out-of-state students. Those numbers represent hikes of 7.8 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively.

“This option … (honors) our culture and tradition of low resident tuition and the board’s commitment to keep resident tuition in the bottom quartile of our national peers,” Moeser wrote in the memorandum sent to the Board of Trustees on Jan. 10.

Calabria said members of the Tuition Task Force, which laid out three different tuition scenarios, generally are supportive of Moeser’s intentions but are worried about a lack of equity between resident and nonresident increases.

“We’ve heard resounding concern about out-of-state tuition,” he said. “We always have to balance quality and affordability.”

A majority of members serving on the Tuition Task Force supported increasing tuition $350, or 10.9 percent, for in-state students and $800, or 4.9 percent, for out-of-staters.

To educate students about the increases and to ensure that the UNC Board of Trustees hears their opinions, student government and members of the Tuition Task Force are hosting a forum at 7 p.m. Monday in 116 Murphey Hall.

“There’s a clear sentiment on campus that there’s injury left over from last year’s increase,” said Alexa Kleysteuber, vice president of the student body.

Last year, trustees approved a $1,500 nonresident tuition raise and a $300 tuition hike — later reduced to $250 — for in-state students.

Provost Robert Shelton, who served as co-chairman of the Tuition Task Force, said he supports any of this year’s three recommendations.

“We use the money as recommended by the task force, and that has been in every way focused on the educational experience,” he said.

Tuition increases would provide financial support for the four priorities identified in the Tuition Advisory Task Force report: need-based financial aid, teaching assistant stipends, improving the faculty-student ratio and continuing to improve faculty salaries.

The UNC-system Board of Governors, which must approve tuition proposals before they are sent to the General Assembly, affirmed during a meeting last week that requests to increase in-state tuition have little chance of surviving.

But Shelton said the extra funds generated through campus-based tuition increases help UNC-CH fulfill its obligation to the state and work to become the leading public university in the nation.

“The state of North Carolina supports us very well, but if we’re going to respond to that generosity … we have to keep the very best people here whether they’re the students, the staff or the faculty.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.