The N.C . State Board of Trustees is set to review a proposed tuition increase of between $330 and $660 this Thursday and Friday, depending on undergraduate and residential standing.
The Tuition Review Advisory Committee proposed the change in September as each university is required to do. However, the adjustment is far from finalized.
Chandler Thompson, student body president, and Provost Warwick Arden co-chaired the committee’s September meetings that voted Sept. 26 unanimously in favor for a $330 increase for in-state undergraduates and a $660 increase for all other students – out-of-state undergraduates as well as all graduate students.
The UNC Board of Governors does not meet again until January, but if TRAC recommendations pass the Board of Governors and the North Carolina Legislature, they will come into affect during the fall 2012 and spring 2013 semesters.
“I think it’s important to give students and parents as much notice as possible to plan for paying,” Thompson said.
Past recommendations, however, have not been followed closely.
For example, the recommendation for the 2010-2011 year was a $150 increase for undergraduate residents. In reality, for those students, tuition was raised by $900, from $5629 to $6529.
“One thing to keep in mind is that we’re nowhere near the end of the tuition discussion; it still has to go through our Board of Governors,” Thompson said. “I’m hoping to have a student forum about it and more conversations with the chancellor and the provost.”
The proposed increase is inside the 6.5 percent average cap placed by law, although the Board of Governors could approve one-time increases higher than that.
However, even with only a $330 increase, some students will still take hit to their financial outlook.
Asanti Thorne, a junior in international studies, said the proposed hike would be overwhelming.
“I actually find it a little terrifying because not only am I a full-time student, but I work part-time and live off-campus. Most of the money I make at work goes to my rent and whatever’s left over goes to food,” Thorne said. “I finally just got financial aid for this semester and I don’t know how I’m going to pay for books next semester since I don’t have any loans.”
Graduate students will have to bear a considerable amount of the tuition burden, as the additional $660 would make it an 8.5 percent increase from 2010 for in-state graduates.
Kathryn Ely, a graduate student in public history, said she has been lucky enough to get a teaching assistantship for the spring.
“Personally, I don’t feel that the tuition [increases] would make as huge a difference,” Ely said. “But I am much more cognizant of how much money I have coming in and how much is going out.”
How it will affect the student body as a whole, though, could be substantial, Ely said.
“I can definitely see how a rise in tuition would impact all kinds of students, especially if they’re getting financial aid and it doesn’t go up accordingly. That could be a big issue for some people,” Ely said.
A major reason behind raising the tuition for next year lies within the University’s extensive budget cut in response to the UNC system’s 16 percent cut.
According to records of the committee’s meetings, Arden said, “Two years ago, we were cut by $53 million, and this year, we were cut by almost $80 million in our continuing budget.”
Furthermore, at the committee’s last meeting, the cost-benefit ratio for increasing tuition in respect to the deficit was discussed.
Provost Arden and Vice Chancellor Leffler commented jointly that, “It’s not possible to make up the $80 million deficit with a campus-initiated tuition increase. Given the total amount of money needed to run the university, tuition is a very small percentage. CITI will help us to regain some of our lost capacity.”
Lori Johnson, the director of Strategic Debt Management, said the balancing act is a catch-22 that both colleges and students everywhere face.
“How low do we keep everything, and what does that do to the quality of your guys’ education? If we cut back too far, students don’t get the quality of education they deserve,” Johnson said.