BOG panel hears tuition requests

WILMINGTON — Despite strong appeals from the chancellors of 13 universities, it remains almost certain that the UNC-system Board of Governors will refuse any proposed increases to in-state tuition this year.

Meeting on UNC-Wilmington’s campus, the board’s budget and finance committee voted unanimously Thursday to advise against campus-based increases for in-state students. There is little doubt that the full board will approve the measure at its Friday meeting.

The board came out against systemwide tuition increases earlier in the school year.

The committee listened for more than five hours as university officials — including UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser, Provost Robert Shelton and Judith Wegner, chairwoman of the faculty — argued for increased revenue.

But while board members said that the needs of the system’s campuses are not in dispute, they added that students should not have to bear an unnecessarily large part of the burden.

“The case for need is clear,” said BOG Chairman Brad Wilson. “I think we should take that case, which has been elaborated here, and go to the General Assembly.”

Standing before the committee, most of the chancellors seemed to know the outcome was already certain.

Even so, most schools brought forth detailed information to indicate that last year’s campus-based increases went toward funding the BOG’s priorities of improved access and faculty retention.

UNC-CH’s presentation elicited one of the liveliest discussions of the meeting, as Moeser, Shelton and Wegner argued that the University will face a crisis in faculty retention without additional funds to address the problem.

“Two-thirds of the faculty at Chapel Hill have had people approach them and try to hire them away,” Wegner told the committee.

Moeser addressed concerns about affordability, citing the University’s Carolina Covenant program for low-income students and the fact that UNC-CH funds 100 percent of financial need for students who apply on time.

“I sincerely believe, ladies and gentlemen, that UNC-Chapel Hill is a more affordable and more accessible university than it was four years ago,” Moeser said.

Just before the committee’s meeting, Gov. Mike Easley released a strong statement in support of Wilson’s position, applauding his call for a freeze on in-state tuition hikes.

“The system, and its campuses, cannot maintain the goodwill of the people while raising tuition year after year without a long-term plan in place,” Easley wrote in a letter addressed to Wilson.

The committee listened diligently as the campuses made impassioned requests, but members said more funding should ultimately be provided for by the General Assembly.

“We now have these cases to go to (the legislature) and say, ‘Please help us get at this need without going directly into the pocketbooks of the students,’” Wilson said.

The committee postponed decisions about student fees, out-of-state tuition and graduate tuition until its March meeting.

“I think the presentations we heard today make strong cases,” said committee member Hannah Gage. “The question is, once again, do we put this on the backs of students?”

 

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