More and more, I’m beginning to think that Gov. Pat McCrory is painting a giant target on UNC.
His budget proposal, released Wednesday, suggests cutting $55 million from last year’s UNC-system funding while increasing out-of-state tuition for UNC-CH by 12.3 percent. This comes weeks after his infamous remarks on the value of a liberal arts education. He expressed the desire to cut funding for programs like women’s studies, saying that such majors are better for private universities.
McCrory has demonstrated multiple times in his short career as governor that N.C. higher education is not his priority and that he is focusing on the UNC system as a means of cutting millions from the N.C. state budget.
As an out-of-state student, it’s evident to me that McCrory is more than willing to make me fork over thousands more in order to support the cuts that he wants to make to his budget. I’m one of the 18 percent that is expected to foot the bill for McCrory’s budget proposal.
Out-of-state students are an extremely important ingredient in making this University what it is. We bring in a wealth of different perspectives and ideas to this campus. Part of what makes Chapel Hill so appealing is its broad spectrum of students. If you inhibit the ability of out-of-state students to attend UNC, you reduce that diversity and risk losing a key part of what makes our school great.
Another risk that McCrory runs is losing out on the potential out-of-state students who would stay in North Carolina following graduation. I can’t speak for my fellow out-of-state students, but I’ve fallen in love with Chapel Hill and want to remain in North Carolina after graduation, if given the opportunity.
The discrepancy between in-state and out-of-state tuition is already large enough. Higher education should always be a priority in the state budget. Taking advantage of the ability to charge out-of-state students more is not only wrong, but not sustainable. McCrory can’t solve our short-term budget problems with a proposal that will deter out-of-state students (a significant source of funding for state universities) in the future.
As a UNC-CH student, an out-of-state student and a sibling of a prospective UNC-CH student, I’m more than discouraged by McCrory’s actions in his first few months as governor. You can bet McCrory has already lost my vote in the short time he’s been in office.
