A UNC-system proposal to raise the out-of-state enrollment cap has found an unexpected proponent — one of the system’s smaller schools.
At their January meeting, some Board of Governors members supported raising the 18 percent cap on out-of-state and international student enrollment in discussions about the system’s proposed five-year strategic plan.
Lifting the cap could generate revenue for campuses, but enrollment would also necessarily increase since the number of in-state students would remain the same. Critics also say the proposal would detract from the system’s mission to educate state residents.
Larger universities in the system have historically brushed up against the cap, but North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University almost doubled the percentage last year.
Out-of-state students made up 31.4 percent of the school’s 2012 freshman class. N.C. A&T is the system’s only school that exceeded the cap in 2012.