Association of Student Governments drafts a tuition policy

Tuesday, student leaders from across the state presented the UNC-system Board of Governors with a rough draft of a tuition policy they want the board to consider.

The report, created by the UNC Association of Student Governments, reflects students’ opinions on how the system’s leaders should update the Four Year Tuition Plan, which was created in 2006 and is set to expire this year.

The association created a task force of UNC-system student body presidents and upper-level ASG members to consolidate student input across all UNC campuses and present to the board, said ASG President Atul Bhula.

The rough draft spoke against charging tuition by credit hour and suggested the board keep the 6.5 percent cap on tuition increases.

The task force wants the board to keep out-of-state tuition below the 75th percentile of public peers.

Association members also want to make sure tuition remains affordable and predictable for students.

The student task force is in the process of polishing the rough draft, which gives a student perspective on the recommendations made by the Board of Governors’ task force.

Members of the association said they hope the board will keep the recommendations in mind while discussing the tuition plan.

Bhula said the organization plans to have a finished document by Oct. 22 and vote on it during its Oct. 30 meeting.

“One of the concerns that I think people have is that our time line is so short,” said Megan Smith, UNC-Charlotte student body president and chairwoman of the ASG tuition and fees task force.

“It’s hard to get quantifiable student input,” she said.

Josh Cotton, ASG vice president of legislative public affairs, said student body presidents are encouraged to get student input by meeting with the student senate and conducting polls on their respective online student portals.

Students at each campus can contribute to the research effort by talking to their student government leaders, Cotton said.

Although they are working under a tight deadline, ASG officials are optimistic about their work.

“We can speak pretty comfortably in terms of what students are looking for,” said Dakota Williams, ASG senior vice president.

With 17 campuses giving input on 15 recommendations, ASG faces another hurdle in consolidating the diverse student opinions into one cohesive report.

They are still deciding on the best way to present all the information they are gathering, Bhula said.

“That’s a million dollar question,” he said.

The proposal will most likely take a stance that reflects the majority opinion, he said.

Bhula will present the task force’s final conclusions at the Board of Governors’ meeting Nov. 4.

“I’ve been incredibly pleased by how receptive university officials have been to student input, and I would hope that they would continue to do that,” Williams said.

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