A recent report found errors in the way the UNC system funds its 15 higher education institutions, which could provide the final push for altering the current funding model. A portion of the funding for schools is based on enrollment growth or change in student credit hours from the previous year.
Campus police at UNC-Greensboro are considering implementing alert devices to strengthen safety, but lack of funding may prevent the change. The device, which has been developed by New Centurion Solutions, Inc., would improve alert notifications and police response times on campus, said Paul Lester, assistant chief of police.
Katie Wordsworth, a freshman biology major, said she needs every cent of her financial aid grants to achieve her dream of becoming an oncologist. Once accepted to UNC, her decision to attend was an easy one — it was the only school to promise her a debt-free education through the Carolina Covenant scholarship.
North Carolina law states that alcoholic beverages cannot be sold in student facilities on the UNC- system campus. But two public universities in Western North Carolina have found loopholes. On select nights at Appalachian State University hundreds of students gather at Legends, an on-campus venue, to listen to music and drink beer.
Universities across the UNC system are proposing tuition hikes well above the average in response to the state’s expected $3.5 billion budget shortfall. And with the change in control of the N.C. General Assembly, the final cost, as well as where the revenue from the increases will go, remains unknown.
Hundreds of copies of the N.C. Central University student newspaper have been found either moved without permission or trashed. After Campus Echo, the student-led newspaper, released two controversial stories in October and November, there were several incidences of illicit moving and trashing of copies in bulk.
The UNC Association of Student Governments will meet this weekend at UNC-Asheville to discuss the organization’s finances. The association is funded with a $1 fee from every student in the UNC system. Atul Bhula, the president of ASG, said the association will be voting on items in the organization’s allotted budget at the meeting.
University administrators at system schools are considering a change that will alleviate the pressures put on students when they change their major.
A provision in the revised UNC-system tuition policy could allow universities to increase tuition above the set limits, but administrators are still unsure how those requests for increases will be handled. The current plan caps tuition increases for resident undergraduate students at 6.5 percent, and the revised policy will continue that limit while giving campuses an opportunity to increase tuition more than the cap in extenuating circumstances.
A change in regulation for the Humans vs. Zombies game on the UNC-Greensboro campus eased community concerns, but at the cost of some student participation. Eliminating the use of Nerf blasters was the main rule change to the game this semester, said UNC-G Campus Chief of Police Jamie Herring.
The UNC-system Board of Governors bid goodbye to the system’s President Erskine Bowles at its last meeting of the year Friday. After five years of guiding the university system through an economic crisis and budget cuts, Bowles will officially step down from his post Dec. 31.
Chancellor Holden Thorp said administrators are unsure of how Republicans will form their leadership and craft the state budget, but that the University is preparing for significant cuts from the state — a move that could force the school to consider dramatically raising tuition to private-school levels or reducing services offered.
True to his personality, UNC-system President Erskine Bowles did not want a “hoopla” for a farewell. Board of Governors members took their last meeting Friday morning as an opportunity to say goodbye to Bowles and thank him for his work in the last five years.
The UNC-system Board of Governors spelled out what a 5 and 10 percent cut would mean for the system at its last meeting of the year Thursday. The board discussed UNC-system President Erskine Bowles’ proposed budget of $105 million in top priorities that will be sent to the N.C. General Assembly if it is approved today.
The UNC-system Board of Governors is expected to make final revisions to the system’s proposed budget and tuition policy at its last meeting of the year today. System President Erskine Bowles drafted a budget for next year based on the state’s budget shortfall, which is expected to be between $3.2 and $3.5 billion. The system has already cut $575 million in the last three years and is bracing for another round of cuts between 5 and 10 percent. The final request will be sent to the N.C. General Assembly.
RALEIGH — Student leaders from across the state awarded funds on Saturday to UNC-system schools for projects to help improve their campuses. Members of the UNC Association of Student Governments met this weekend at N.C. State University to review applications for campus innovation grants.
If a recommendation for simplifying the state’s financial-aid system is followed, students from similar economic circumstances in the UNC system would be receiving the same amount of aid, regardless of the tuition costs they pay. At the request of the UNC and N.C. community college systems’ presidents, a work group comprised of state education officials studied simplifying the financial-aid system and recommended standardizing a formula for calculating aid awards for students and consolidating three sources of state financial aid into one.
Fluctuating tuition from UNC-CH’s peer institutions might soon have a bigger impact on the University. The UNC-system Board of Governors will review peer institutions for schools in the UNC system in the spring, and administrators say this reevaluation might give more leeway in increasing tuition.
Because so many students chose the new insurance plan offered by the UNC system, the cost of the plan is likely to stay constant. At the end of the process to appeal the automatic Pearce & Pearce coverage last Thursday, 7,041 students at UNC-CH were enrolled — about 26 percent, said Dr. Mary Covington, executive director for UNC Campus Health Services.
With extensive budget cuts looming, members of the UNC-system Board of Governors want universities to move toward a less traditional form of education. Administrators say they want to expand the already growing online and distance learning programs offered by campuses to alleviate the inevitable cuts next year while staying competitive among peer institutions.
