Trustees OK landmark hike

Jan. 22 — In an almost unanimous vote, UNC-Chapel Hill’s governing body approved a $1,500 one-year nonresident tuition increase Wednesday evening, claiming that a pending “crisis” in faculty retention outweighed strong opposition expressed by both the Faculty Council and the student body.

The approved proposal, which will generate $15.3 million, also includes a $300 tuition hike for in-state students.

(Editor’s note: In March, the UNC system’s governing body gave final approval to the increases. The Board of Governors reduced the in-state hike to $250 but kept the out-of-state increase at $1,500.)

Wednesday’s decision marks a significant shift in tuition policies: the first time a campus-based tuition increase, using a market-based philosophy, has targeted nonresident tuition rates.

“It’s necessary that this board address tuition as part of the big picture,” said Richard “Stick” Williams, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “If we are going to build the leading public university, we have to make sure all the parts fit.”

Trustees said the generated funds will be earmarked for faculty salaries, need-based financial aid, teacher assistant salaries and tuition remissions.

Eliminated from this list are merit- and talent-based scholarships, a controversial component of a draft proposal that trustees had supported until this week.

Trustees decided on a philosophy that nonresident tuition should reach, but not exceed, the 75th percentile among public peer institutions.

Reaching that goal would cost nonresidents at least $2,100 more, based on current peer tuition rates. As part of the philosophy, trustees decided to keep in-state tuition in the lowest quartile of those institutions.

Trustees refused to include concerns expressed by Student Body President Matt Tepper that students should be able to plan for tuition hikes before entering UNC-CH.

“Maybe there are students who came with the understanding of this being a low-cost institution for all students,” Trustee Tim Burnett said. “But they also came with another understanding of the kind of quality this institution represents.”

Tepper drafted a separate proposal prior to the meeting in an attempt to address this concern.

The proposal recommended a 5 percent hike for all current undergraduate students — about $200 for residents and $800 for nonresidents — with a $1,500 increase for nonresident students entering UNC-CH next year.

But the proposal did not receive a motion for adoption, and many trustees criticized it for being unfair to incoming students and bringing in $2.4 million less in discretionary funds. Trustees argued that current students can take out low-interest loans to cover increased tuition costs.

“I’m trying to decide if that loan is more onerous than the $2.4 million you are giving up under your proposal,” said Trustee John Ellison. “I’m coming down on the side of $2.4 million for faculty and teacher assistant salaries. It’s not an easy call.”

Several trustees said they were sensitive to the financial burden the increase will place on middle class students but were swayed by the need to maintain the quality of education through retaining faculty.

But Judith Wegner, chairwoman of the faculty, said the increase will damage recruitment of nonresident students, particularly graduate students, and only will worsen the problem of keeping faculty from accepting offers from other schools.

“This is important,” she said to applause from dozens of students in attendance. “We need medicine, but first do no harm.”

Wegner maintained her staunch opposition to the increase, expressed in a resolution unanimously approved by the Faculty Council last week, even after trustees removed merit- and talent-based scholarships from the list of funding priorities.

Faculty members strongly advocated against the use of tuition dollars to hold harmless the costs of athletic and merit scholarships that are funded through private foundations.

Trustees said after the meeting that the removal of these scholarships was a response to those concerns and to sentiments expressed by students in dozens of e-mails sent to the trustees.

Trustees voted on tuition increases for residents and nonresidents separately at the request of trustees Rusty Carter and Philip Carson. They were the only trustees to vote against the increase for residents, while Tepper cast the lone vote against the nonresident increase.

Several students said they were shocked by the board’s action and expressed concern about the implications of the hike.

“I’ll end up finding a way to make ends meet,” said Doug Ornoff, a freshman from Virginia who serves on the Freshman Focus Council. “But now, I really don’t know how.”

Before the trustees’ final votes were even cast, Wegner said she already was preparing for a campaign to sway BOG members to reject the proposal.

Tepper said the most effective appeal to BOG members would be asking to change the tuition philosophy enacted by the BOT and not the numbers of the approved proposal.

“This seems like a pretty final decision,” he said. “But of course we’ll continue to pressure the BOG for a tuition philosophy that is kinder to students.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.