Trustees OK nighttime parking fee

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated graduate school fees will increase by $350. Graduate school tuition will increase by $350, not fees. It also stated that N.C. State was exempted from increased hikes by the Board of Governors — the legislators actually made that mandate. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the errors.

He spent a majority of the fall semester fighting it, but Student Body President Christy Lambden ended up hesitantly approving a fee for students to park on campus at night.

In the Board of Trustees’ last scheduled meeting of the year on Thursday, the full board approved the contentious $10.40 nighttime parking student fee, along with $350 in additional tuition for all graduate students.

“That is not something I support, we should not put any extra weight on students,” Lambden said. “I did put support on the $10 night parking fee very reluctantly. It was either this or the permit.”

A tuition proposal approved Thursday raises student fees by 1.7 percent. The UNC Board of Governors must still approve the fees.

Among the approved fees was the parking fee that was met with disapproval from student leaders — discussion of the fee dominated Student Fee Advisory Subcommittee and Tuition and Fees Advisory Task Force meetings.

The board passed the proposal unanimously Thursday.

The fee originally proposed by UNC’s Department of Public Safety was a yearlong permit that cost $227. The fee is part of the department’s five-year plan. DPS has incurred debt through the creation of several parking places and park-and-ride lots.

“Students, upon hearing that, were unhappy with the proposal,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jim Dean.

“Students didn’t necessarily see the benefit of the infrastructure.”

All students, except for freshmen, will have to pay the yearly student fee.

During the tuition and fees meetings earlier this year, student leaders said the fee amount seemed arbitrary and questioned how DPS chose the amount. The board agreed to conduct a review of the five-year plan and associated costs.

The trustees also discussed various tuition increases to be implemented next year. In-state students will not be affected by any tuition increases, but other groups will be.

Resident and nonresident graduate students will pay a tuition increase of $350 next year. The money will be used for financial aid and faculty retention.

“Having been able to give faculty raises only one of the last five years puts us in an increasingly sensitive position in respect to our peers,” Dean said. “This is a reasonable step to take in light of that.”

The board also expressed concern with the 12.3-percent out-of-state tuition increase that will be applied next year, which amounts to $3,469.

Shirley Ort, associate provost and director of the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid, said the out-of-state tuition raise will affect students, and UNC will need $4.6 million to meet the needs of those students after the hike.

The UNC Board of Governors exempted some campuses, such as N.C. State University, from the increases or instead applied lower hikes.

“We’re all Tar Heels and we don’t want to have to think of people as in-state versus out-of-state,” said board member Sallie Shuping-Russell.

“This is not being applied equally on campuses across the system. Why there’s a disparity is a concern for the committee.”

Dean said the money from the increase would not go to the University, and would instead go to the state’s general fund.

“It’s a tax,” said board member Don Curtis.

“If the money comes in and goes straight to the Department of Treasury, it’s a tax.”

university@dailytarheel.com