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.
The UNC system’s top administrators are paid less than their colleagues at peer institutions, making them the targets of poaching attempts by rival institutions looking to lure away the universities’ chancellors. Twelve of the system’s 15 university chancellors are paid less than the average compensation offered by peer institutions, according to a recent study conducted by the General Administration.
The president of the UNC-system Association of Student Governments should be able to vote during the Board of Governors’ meetings. Atul Bhula, the current president of ASG, has done the right thing by making obtaining this privilege his goal.
Adjusting to college life is never easy for incoming students — especially if they are transferring from a foreign battlefield.
UNC expects to be working with NCAA investigators for at least a year, Chancellor Holden Thorp told UNC-system leaders Thursday. The individual student-athletes’ fates will be resolved much faster but “we’re only a little bit of the way into the NCAA process,” Thorp told Board of Governors members.
Universities in the UNC system should plan on cutting their budgets by at least 10 percent and prepare to face a tough fight against legislators, the system’s President Erskine Bowles said Thursday. At their monthly meeting, Bowles and members of the UNC-system Board of Governors began drafting their budget request for next year to send to the N.C. General Assembly in November.
Discussion concerning the UNC system’s budget for next year and potential tuition increases will start in earnest at the Board of Governors’ meeting today. The board will be going through recommendations to update the Four Year Tuition Plan.
A recommendation to the UNC-system Board of Governors to charge tuition by the credit hour could inhibit students from taking more classes.
The UNC-system Board of Governors met with UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp and Athletic Director Dick Baddour Thursday at their meeting to discuss the NCAA investigation into academic infractions.
A sweeping study of North Carolina’s K-12 teachers concluded that those who come to the classroom from Teach for America consistently outperform the rest of the state’s newer educators.It also reflected a growing number in N.C. classrooms of inexperienced teachers, which study leaders cited as the biggest obstacle to K-12 student success.
UNC-system President Erskine Bowles announced Friday that he had chosen who would replace the system's outgoing chief financial officer.
Outgoing UNC-system President Erskine Bowles manages 16 more schools than UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp — and only makes about $60,000 more a year.But members of one of the committees helping to find Bowles’ replacement said the next system president needs to make substantially more than any of the system chancellors.
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