The Board of Trustees approved a 15.6 percent tuition increase for in-state students Thursday morning, rejecting a proposal by Student Body President Mary Cooper to delay the vote until December.
Cooper asked members of the board to consider such a delay so students and administrators could craft a proposal that would not draw so heavily on current students.
But Chancellor Holden Thorp came out in opposition to the idea, saying that trustees needed to approve a proposal so administrators could lobby more effectively for faculty salary raises, a key motivation for the extra hikes, in the state legislature.
The approved proposal also raises tuition by 6.5 percent for out-of-state students. Cooper, the lone student representative on the board, was the only trustee to vote against the proposal.
The board’s approval also came in spite of a sizable and vocal student protest lining the walls of the Carolina Inn ballroom.
The UNC-system Board of Governors will vote on tuition proposals from system schools in February.
