TO THE EDITOR:
This summer, I wrote to The Daily Tar Heel when it seemed that UNC’s strong financial aid program, the foundation of our proudly public institution, was in jeopardy.
As the new semester begins, my team and I remain highly engaged in this issue and hope to encourage students to get informed about this topic.
To provide some context, in the face of declining state appropriations and rising tuition costs, UNC has been able to sustain its financial aid model by using a percentage of revenue from tuition increases to fund student aid.
Since 2000, the Board of Governors, which governs the statewide university system, has mandated that a minimum of 25 percent of tuition increase funds from each campus go to their respective need-based aid programs to ensure that financial aid remains stable when tuition increases.
UNC Chapel Hill now uses 38 percent of the revenue from the last tuition increase for need-based financial aid to support the 43 percent of our undergraduate student population on need-based financial aid.
Earlier this summer, the Board of Governors was discussing a 25 percent cap on tuition revenue for aid. Thanks to student advocacy, the hard work of administrators, and spirited discussion, the tone of the debate has now shifted.
In September, a vote will be held on whether to remove any sort of minimum or maximum set-aside requirement, thereby giving campuses more autonomy to allocate tuition dollars. This vote is now a win-win for UNC; we will be able to maintain our tuition revenue for financial aid program if this proposal is accepted or rejected.
These discussions will continue to occur as public universities handle the strain of the nationwide economic crisis. We are grateful that our Board of Governors is now seeking to give campuses more autonomy rather than imposing a cap on tuition revenue for aid.
