Student input encouraged in review of tuition process

The board of governors is realizing students have no easy way to speak up about tuition.

As the UNC-system Board of Governors reviews tuition policy, they and members of a tuition task force said students need a clearly defined role in the decision process.

But they don’t have a specific plan yet for defining that role.

Jeff Davies, UNC-system chief of staff, said student input is important because it’s hard to predict how they will react to changes in the tuition process.

Board members are reviewing the Four Year Tuition Plan, which was created by UNC-system President Erskine Bowles in 2006 to make the tuition process more predictable and structured.

“What will happen in the near future is that the president will make his recommendations for altering the Four Year Tuition Plan,” Davies said.

“The course of action will be determined whether students agree or disagree with those actions when they see them.”

Under the plan, UNC-system schools are not allowed to raise tuition for resident undergraduates by more than 6.5 percent.

This year, as the plan nears expiration and the state faces a budget deficit, administrators are considering raising the tuition-increase cap to more than 6.5 percent.

John Davis, a board member, said it’s important to hear student opinions as they prepare for reviewing the plan.

“If I had to guess. I think 90 percent of the board really does respect student input, particularly when it comes to expenses,” Davis said.

He said that while the board wants to keep tuition affordable for students, they can not guarantee that tuition won’t be raised next year.

One student representative

Joni Worthington, UNC-system vice president for communications, said that the board will seek opinion from it’s student member — Atul Bhula, president of the Association of Student Governments.

Because there is no clearly defined student role in the tuition process yet, Bhula is taking the reins in his own hands.

He said he has started making plans to get students active in lobbying legislators.

“We’re up against a $3.5 billion deficit in the state and the University is going to feel it,” he said.

“Our goal is to minimize that cut as much as possible.”

Bhula and other members of the association have been holding conference calls between monthly meetings to come up with their own solutions for future cuts and tuition increases.

“They’ve already told me that I’m going to have more of a voice than any other person,” he said.

ASG decided in a conference call Tuesday to designate a separate committee to handle the planning for lobbying legislators on tuition increases.

Bhula said they are encouraging students to send letters to legislators expressing how another tuition increase will affect them.

“I’m trying to close the gap between the administration and students and understand what’s going on from the top down.”

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