The UNC governing body will finalize tuition plans for the 2005-06 academic year during its meeting next week, ending what has been a struggle for several system schools to ensure that they can make ends meet next year.
The Board of Governors will vote one week from today on out-of-state and graduate tuition hikes after the Budget and Finance Committee meets Thursday to draft its proposal.
Several schools — including UNC-Chapel Hill — have said the revenue from tuition hikes is crucial in retaining faculty and funding enrollment growth.
The conclusion of tuition talks was pushed back until March because members met in Wilmington last month. Chairman Brad Wilson promised student leaders that the board would wait to make any final decisions until the full board met in Chapel Hill, a more central location in the state.
In Wilmington, despite hearing pleas from 13 of the 16 UNC-system chancellors, the board unanimously decided to halt in-state tuition increases.
“The significant needs of the university cannot be met and solved by tuition alone,” Wilson said during the meeting. “We need to continue to work hard and partner with the General Assembly … to solve the root causes of the problems.”
This decision puts more pressure on nonresident students in the system to provide tuition revenue for universities.
“I have not had any expressions of opposition (to nonresident increases),” Wilson told The Daily Tar Heel on March 1. “It wouldn’t surprise me if out-of-state (tuition) is … approved in some amount at all the schools.”
UNC-CH said it would not drop its proposals for nonresident and graduate hikes, which are $950 and $200, respectively.
