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(02/13/06 5:00am)
The UNC-system's one-year experiment with a defined tuition framework culminated Friday in the quick approval of tuition increases at all 16 universities, just as system officials and campus administrators had hoped.
"I think it was a great lesson," said Hannah Gage, who leads the UNC-system Board of Governors' budget and finance committee.
Gage has championed the use of guidelines - which allow campuses to count on approval for hikes that fall within a set limit - as a way of bringing order and predictability to the annual process.
"The campuses deserve a lot of respect for showing that they can work within a system and framework," she said Friday, following the board's near-unanimous vote in favor of increases at every campus. "I think they accomplished what we hoped they could accomplish."
The only dissent voiced during the vote came from board member Ray Farris, who objected specifically to UNC-Chapel Hill's proposal to raise nonresident tuition by $1,100. Farris forced the board to take the unusual step of making UNC-CH's request a separate motion so that he could register his opposition.
"I think they have increased too much too soon," Farris said, referring to the University's Board of Trustees.
"It gives the impression that that University is going to charge just as much as it can. I think that's the wrong impression."
The policy outlined by the University trustees does, in fact, call for raising nonresident tuition as high as the market will bear, and the BOG largely has been supportive of that approach.
But Farris said the rate of increase has been unreasonably quick, and two other board members joined him in voting against the hike.
"They have increased so rapidly for students already in school," Farris said, noting that nonresident tuition at UNC-CH has increased about $6,000 since 2001.
For undergraduates at UNC-CH, the tuition and fee hikes passed Friday amount to $360.80 for residents and $1,210.80 for nonresidents.
Despite widespread praise among board members and campus officials, plans to permanently adopt a more streamlined tuition policy are far from certain.
Erskine Bowles, who became president of the UNC system in January, said he has one overriding concern about a policy that would allow for regular increases in campus-based tuition.
"I believe it's critical for us to make sure we don't inadvertently do anything that would cause the legislature to be disincentivized from supporting us because they felt they could rely on tuition as a substitute for legislative dollars that we might get," he told the board.
The relationship between tuition hikes and state appropriations has figured prominently in BOG discussions in years past. Ever since the adoption of campus-initiated tuition increases in 1999, system leaders have scrutinized how their choices about tuition might affect budget decisions in the N.C. General Assembly.
Bowles' announcement made clear that system officials will have to evaluate carefully how any new tuition policy might alter the perception of legislators. Board members stressed that the legislature has been generous to the university.
"You don't want to create a formula where the General Assembly can, by inaction I guess, cause tuition to go up," said board chairman Brad Wilson.
Jim Phillips, who led the budget and finance committee during last year's tuition process, said there always has been concern about balancing the genuine needs of the system with the state's ability to pay.
Using tuition hikes to account for limited state funding could cause legislators to feel less urgency about funding higher education, he said.
At the same time, many board members think the system has to demonstrate a willingness to pay for some its own priorities, and Phillips said balancing those competing concerns can be tough.
"Take last year's decision not to raise tuition at all, which was roundly praised by students and the press, and the leadership of the General Assembly was very unhappy," he said. "There are a lot of different constituencies that care about how this university operates."
The job of crafting a long-term tuition policy that will satisfy those constituencies has been put on hold at least until April.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/31/06 5:00am)
When officials at Winston-Salem State University discovered a leaky steam pipe last month, they decided repairs couldn't wait.
Running through the central part of campus, the pipe is responsible for heating the dining hall, the main library and a residence hall.
"It's an important part of campus," said Jorge Quintal, associate vice chancellor for facilities at WSSU. "We need to get it replaced as quickly as possible."
But across the UNC system, even as campuses add and renovate facilities on an unprecedented scale, necessary repairs to existing buildings and infrastructure often are put on hold. As a result of aging systems and a limited budget, the list of deferred maintenance items is growing.
"We see the backlog inching up again," said Jeff Davies, system vice president for finance. "We have made significant inroads into addressing our deferred maintenance needs, and now we just don't want to stop making progress."
The backlog of deferred maintenance - the term for every kind of campus repair, from broken elevators to leaky roofs, put on hold because of budget concerns - led the system Board of Governors to request $250 million in state funding last year to address the problem. Legislators appropriated $57.5 million to cover repairs through 2007.
"I think they try very hard to present our case to the General Assembly," Quintal said, referring to the BOG. "They are well-aware of our backlog."
Officials at WSSU estimated it would take $18.3 million to meet the school's repair needs from 2005 to 2011. Six-year projections for the entire system total more than $749 million.
"None of us, I believe, are getting all of what we need," Quintal said, noting that WSSU received $1.3 million to cover repairs from 2005 to 2007. In two of the four previous budget cycles, the university system received no money for repairs.
"The biggest problem is that there's no steady stream coming in," said Phil Jones, associate vice chancellor for facilities management at UNC-Charlotte. "I think if you look back at the repair and renovation funding that's come from the legislature, it's been up and down."
Without regular funding, projects that would be handled on a set schedule can become urgent crises.
The steam pipe at WSSU was scheduled to be replaced earlier, but the project was deferred. Now that a major leak threatens to disrupt campus heating, officials will spend more to replace it quickly.
"We were already scheduled to replace it," he said. "If our deferred maintenance funding could have kept up with our university needs, I think we would have had the opportunity to do it."
The UNC system's $3.1 billion bond program has taken a sizable bite out of the backlog, as renovations to older buildings covered many repair needs, Davies said.
But the bond statute specifically lists which projects are funded. The bond does include $25 million in undesignated money, but rising construction costs are likely to consume most of that reserve, Davies said.
Meanwhile, campus officials have been left to decide where to make repairs and where to make do.
Even with critical infrastructure - such as the steam pipe - projects out of sight are often out of mind, Quintal added.
"Other things tend to take priority over things you don't see."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/23/06 5:00am)
CHARLOTTE - Responding to criticism that the UNC-system Association of Student Governments has been unfocused and ineffective, ASG President Zack Wynne called Saturday for a fresh start and a strong finish for the new semester.
He acknowledged that failures of leadership have hampered the ASG's efforts to build support during the last several months, but called on delegates to do their part by committing more fully to the organization.
"I need you to be very blunt and very honest," he told the group during its weekend meeting at UNC-Charlotte.
"I want to know what we can do to make this semester end on a good note."
Delegates from all 16 UNC-system campuses - including 13 student body presidents - responded with a litany of complaints and suggestions, covering everything from frustration with the casual dress code to problems with the structure of the group's monthly meetings.
Much of the conversation centered on the need for greater professionalism and improved communication. Delegates complained that they often have little knowledge of what the association's leadership is planning.
"It's crazy that I have to find out the president of my committee resigned by reading it in the newspaper," said Dominique Keaton, a delegate from Western Carolina University who serves as vice chairwoman of the legislative affairs committee.
The vice president for legislative affairs, Ginny Franks, resigned last month and now is a columnist for The Daily Tar Heel.
Two other officers also have resigned this year. Wynne told delegates Saturday that those departures should have been handled better.
"I dropped the ball on some of those personnel issues," he said.
Part of the reason the exodus of officers has caused such a disruption is that he has to rely heavily on delegating responsibilities, Wynne added.
"My style of leadership, especially being 190 miles from the office in Raleigh, is that you have to do things on your own," Wynne told the officers and delegates.
Managing the difficulty of being far away from the ASG office, the state legislature and the UNC-system administration office has been more challenging than expected, said Wynne, a graduate student at Appalachian State University in Boone.
A former student body president at UNC-Wilmington, Wynne is the first ASG president in seven years who is not a student at UNC-Chapel Hill or N.C. State University.
"This had to happen eventually," he said Saturday. "In a way, it's good that it's happening in a year that the legislature is not in session."
The ability to spend more time in the ASG's Raleigh office was a strong selling point in the election Saturday of Laura De Castro, an N.C. State University sophomore, to the position of senior vice president. De Castro replaces Jamen Miller, an N.C. State graduate student, who resigned earlier this month.
De Castro was asked by one delegate if her dedication to the job would be greater than Miller's.
"I've been to all of the meetings this year," she replied, alluding to criticism of Miller's poor attendance record.
If she serves the remainder of the term, De Castro will receive the $1,050 still remaining of the senior vice president's $3,000 stipend. Miller already has been paid $1,950 for his tenure.
Steps also were taken during the weekend to fill Franks' position temporarily.
Patrick Kelly, former associate vice president for legislative affairs, will take on the vice president's position on an interim basis. Kelly said he will apply to fill the position permanently.
The vice presidency for academic and student development, which has been vacant since October, will be filled by Daphne Villanueva, a former student body president at UNC-Greensboro.
Villanueva is serving as the acting vice president until she can be officially confirmed.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/19/06 5:00am)
Hobbled by a rash of departures among top officials, the UNC-system Association of Student Governments is struggling to regroup before the state legislature reconvenes in May.
Jamen Miller, senior vice president of the association, announced his departure last week, leaving vacant three of the ASG's six officer posts. Positions for the vice president of legislative affairs and the vice president for academic and student affairs both remain unfilled.
"There comes a point where sometimes you have to throw your hands up and say, 'whatever,'" said ASG President Zack Wynne, acknowledging that the spring semester will have to be focused on rebuilding.
"If it takes this for us to start over, then there's nothing I can do."
Though Miller so far has declined to comment on the reasons for his departure, Wynne said the job had proven too much to handle.
"He got in over his head. It happens to everybody sometimes."
In a December review by the ASG's personnel committee, Miller faced criticism for his lackluster attendance and for focusing too much on other priorities. The committee noted that he was rarely present at the association's Raleigh office, despite being enrolled at N.C. State University in Raleigh.
"It struck this committee that the attendance of the V.P. is not that consistent," the review stated. "We have urged him to start taking more interest in the ASG because his lack of participation is greatly noticed."
Similar accusations were leveled in a resignation letter sent last month by the former vice president for legislative affairs, Ginny Franks, who is now a columnist for The Daily Tar Heel.
In response, Miller said last week that he was giving as much time as he could to the association and that his graduate studies and his job as a residence director are both very demanding.
The turnover among top officers is having an impact on the association's agenda, with several projects behind schedule or put on hold.
"It kind of slows down the organization and makes it stagnant for a while," said Lee Hyde, vice president for finance. "We're handling it the best we can."
The association also is coping with unexpected expenses related to its move into a new office in downtown Raleigh. The cost of installing a new phone system was about $3,500 - well beyond the $1,500 that officials had expected, Hyde said.
There is also an ongoing dispute between the ASG and its previous landlord, who is seeking up to $1,500 for alleged damages to his building. Hyde said any added expenses would be offset from other programs in the budget, which totals $180,000.
Officials still are planning a legislative conference to be held sometime in March or April, and legislative report cards - a project previously overseen by Franks - are set to be completed relatively soon.
Even as officials expressed hope that state lobbying efforts would be on track for the start of the legislative session, plans to send a small delegation of students to meet lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have been scrapped.
Wynne said a few students might attend a March conference hosted by the U.S. Student Association, but any independent lobbying at the federal level has been ruled out for the time being.
"That takes a little bit of a burden off of us in terms of planning things," Wynne said.
The association's first meeting of the semester is scheduled to take place Saturday at UNC-Charlotte, and Wynne said he hopes to regain some momentum so the association can move forward.
"My goal for this weekend is just to have a real candid discussion with everybody there," he said.
"Hopefully we'll finish out the year on a better note than we started."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/12/06 5:00am)
WAVELAND, Miss. - The Brooks home occupies a prime spot in town, sitting right at the end of Coleman Avenue - Waveland's equivalent of Main Street - about a half-mile from the beach.
(01/12/06 5:00am)
The UNC Association of Student Governments is heading into the semester facing a leadership void in two of its five standing committees, following the resignation last month of vice president Ginny Franks and the October resignation of vice president Will Quick.
(01/11/06 5:00am)
BAY ST. LOUIS, MISS.
(01/10/06 5:00am)
WILMINGTON, Feb. 14 - There was no discussion and no dissent as the UNC system's governing body voted to reject any rise in next year's tuition for in-state students.
(10/12/05 4:00am)
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK - With the Triangle Transit Authority already feeling pressure from higher fuel costs, officials are considering an eventual changeover to more efficient hybrid buses.
(09/27/05 4:00am)
As large numbers of evacuees return to cities that were spared the brunt of Hurricane Rita, officials in Texas and Louisiana are coping with a fresh round of displaced residents from the smaller towns and rural counties hit hardest by the storm.
(09/26/05 4:00am)
RALEIGH - With no national or statewide races up for grabs this year, the UNC-Chapel Hill Young Democrats are focusing on a handful of local elections that could have a significant impact on Chapel Hill.
(09/23/05 4:00am)
Roadways along the Gulf Coast were jammed once again Thursday as the second major hurricane in less than a month forced evacuations from coastal Texas and Louisiana.
(09/21/05 4:00am)
A Bush administration plan to provide federal aid for schools that enroll Hurricane Katrina evacuees is facing criticism from opponents of school vouchers.
(09/21/05 4:00am)
Despite strong enthusiasm for national advocacy following a trip last semester to Washington, D.C., UNC-system Association of Student Governments officials said direct federal lobbying will not be a high priority this year.
(09/20/05 4:00am)
Making its own apt contribution to celebrate Constitution Day, the UNC School of Law held a symposium Monday afternoon to explore the ins and outs of the Supreme Court nominating process.
(09/16/05 4:00am)
Chapel Hill played host Thursday to the first of three national town hall meetings designed to promote dialogue about improving health care.
(09/16/05 4:00am)
Under an agreement announced Thursday between the UNC system and Napster LLC, system campuses can now work out individual contracts with the digital music company to provide downloading services for students.
(09/14/05 4:00am)
As widely expected, Judge John Roberts held his ground Tuesday and declined to answer a range of questions put forth by members of the Senate judiciary committee.
(09/13/05 4:00am)
Last Thursday, I met a man who was sifting through the rubble of his house, looking for family photographs and pieces of a china set, and the first thing he wanted to talk about was basketball.
(09/13/05 4:00am)
Even as Hurricane Ophelia was being downgraded to a tropical storm Monday, North Carolina officials weren't taking any chances.