In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Biden v. Nebraska decision, which struck down President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan seeking to forgive $430 billion in student loan debt, nearby universities Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill announced plans to offer free tuition to qualifying students originating from the Carolinas. Many wondered if NC State would follow suit.
Chapel Hill’s initiative will cover tuition and mandatory fees for undergraduate students from North Carolina whose families earn less than $80,000 a year and have “typical assets.” Duke’s Initiative for Students from the Carolinas will provide full tuition grants for North and South Carolina undergraduate students whose families earn less than $150,000 a year and additional relief for students whose families earn less than $65,000 a year.
Chancellor Randy Woodson said it’s important to set aside Duke from the conversation, considering it is a private institution, meaning the tuition is higher and the population of Carolinians smaller.
“First of all, it’s a private university,” Woodson said. “They don’t have to tell you anything. Secondly, you know, we’re talking about $9,000 in tuition and fees versus $60,000.”
Although NC State and Chapel Hill are both within the UNC System, the universities differ in size and demonstrated need.
“We have more students that have financial needs,” Woodson said. “And as we have more students from families with $80,000 or less income, we have more students overall. We’re by far the largest university in the state, so overall, we have more students from families that need support. We need to raise more money privately because the need is so great.”
Woodson said it may be feasible to implement a similar plan at NC State, though it would require a large fundraising effort.
“We can’t guarantee that every student from a family that makes less than $80,000 will have sufficient financial aid to cover tuition and fees,” Woodson said. “On average, right now, the majority of our students from that threshold do have some level of financial aid to meet the need, but we have a gap between what their demonstrated need is and the amount of money available.”
Woodson said while it will cost Chapel Hill between $500,000 to $600,000 to cover tuition and fees for undergraduate students whose families earn less than $80,000 a year, it would cost NC State significantly more.
“For us, the gap is $11.7 million,” Woodson said. “I think it’s incumbent to explain that because we’re much bigger.”
Technician was unable to independently confirm it would cost the University $11.7 million to implement a plan on par with UNC’s plan.
That is not to say NC State is not making efforts to assist students requiring financial aid. According to the UNC Board of Governors, a policy-making body which oversees the public universities in the UNC system, NC State is allocating $2.6 million more towards need-based financial aid than last year, whereas UNC-Chapel Hill has already devoted the maximum percent of tuition revenue toward need-based financial aid.
“We know we have a gap, and we’ve been working hard to fill that gap by raising money,” Woodson said. “So in the last few years, we’ve implemented the Goodnight Scholars Program, which is for families making under $100,000, and that’s a large number of students. We’re doing the Extraordinary Opportunity Scholarship Program. So we’re closing the gap, but we have to raise a lot more money.”
