University could diverge from system

Despite every indication from the UNC system’s governing body that campus-based tuition increases will not be approved this year, UNC-Chapel Hill officials said the system’s flagship institution deserves the hike and needs it to remain competitive.

The University Board of Trustees’ proposal of a $200 increase for resident tuition and $950 for nonresident students will be presented to the Board of Governors in February. At that time, officials at each campus will have the opportunity to make their case.

UNC-CH officials have said the University’s status as a research institution and its need to maintain competitive faculty salaries means a campus-based increase must pass, even if other system schools are denied.

“Differentiation of missions is critical for the success of all the universities in the system,” Provost Robert Shelton said last week. “In the case of Chapel Hill, we have to be among the top of the world.”

But while BOG members agree that UNC-CH has a different mission, they are hesitant to say it requires special treatment.

“(UNC-CH) clearly is a research-extensive university, and some of the other schools are not,” said BOG member Ray Farris. “That doesn’t mean the increases are warranted, and it doesn’t mean they’re not warranted.”

BOG Chairman Brad Wilson said UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser’s argument is not a new one. Every campus, he added, can make a case for need.

Wilson has come out against campus-based tuition increases.

“No one is disputing that the University has economic needs. That’s the way it’s always been; that’s the way it always will be.

“I look at this not as an economic need question, but as an educational policy question.”

The BOG is required by law to review campus-based requests, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Richard “Stick” Williams said it should take the University’s request seriously. He said the work done by UNC-CH’s Tuition Task Force thoroughly examined the school’s needs.

“I really do believe that the members of the Board of Governors will have to take some serious consideration of the work that was done,” Williams said.

He added that UNC-CH is in danger of losing its place among the top universities in the country.

“We have lost some valuable faculty members over the past several years, and current faculty members are being approached by other universities, especially the rich, private universities,” he said.

“If we’re going to deliver the quality education that this University is known for, we have to keep and attract the best faculty possible.”

Sen. Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, a staunch advocate for the UNC system, said that each campus should be seen for what it is, but that UNC-CH is a special case. “I think Chapel Hill should be looked at differently,” he said. “A tuition increase at Chapel Hill would not be felt as keenly as increases at other schools.

“Chapel Hill is widely thought to be among the very best of the public universities, and it would be a huge blow to North Carolina to lose that,” he added. “We need to protect this wonderful resource we have.”

But even though UNC-CH will be given a fair hearing, Farris said, the increases are higher than other institutions’ requests and might be too high for out-of-state tuition.

“What Chapel Hill is trying to do with out-of-state tuition is take almost as much as the market will bear. I don’t think the students when they enrolled in Chapel Hill thought they would be getting the kind of increases that they have.”

Williams cited UNC-CH’s role in leading the nation’s public universities in access, with the Carolina Covenant, academic freedom and general excellence, as enough evidence of need for extra revenue.

“I don’t know the other campuses (in the UNC system) like I know this campus,” he said. “But I do know that this campus has been around for more than 200 years, and it has an extraordinary reputation.”

“I don’t want to say that makes us stand apart from the rest of the system,” he added. “But it really puts this campus in a leadership position in the rest of the nation.”

University Editor Emily Steel contributed to this article.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.