Meredith Faggart
The Student and Campus Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees approved a proposal to increase tuition and fees in its meeting Thursday afternoon.
The proposal called for a $100 increase in tuition for in-state students and a $200 increase for out-of-state students, with no increase for graduate students except for specific programs. The committee also approved a $69 increase to fees, not including the indebtedness and transit fee increases, which it also approved.
The full Board of Trustees will vote on the proposal today.
Initially, the Tuition Advisory Task Force recommended an increase to in-state and out-of-state tuition of $240 and $480, but trustee member and Student Body President Bobby Mills said it was reduced in the Tuition and Fees Conference Committee.
Chancellor James Oblinger agreed with a zero percent increase for graduate students because he said the University has unique graduate programs, and already has such a high number of in-state students.
When students enroll in the graduate school, Oblinger said the University pays for a majority of the programs. By comparison, he said students pay for the programs at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Mills shared the sentiment.
“If you increase graduate [tuition], it costs us money,” Mills said.
According to Mills, he opposed the increases because of what the they are slated to fund.
A portion of the increase for College of Management graduate students goes to the college’s Institute for Global Innovation Management, which Mills said would gain too much of an increase at one time.
“It should be spread out over a longer period of time,” he said.
Giving the Global Innovation program a “projected path,” Mills said, would give students a better opportunity to understand what their higher cost is going to fund.
Mills said he thought a greater portion of the increase should have been slated for Pack Promise.
The rest of the committee members approved of the proposal.
Committee members also discussed the issue of drug testing for athletes. The ideas were not anything new, Mills said, but the committee emphasized that they would be further aligned to NCAA rulings.
NCSU already gives drug tests immediately on site, not giving athletes time to prepare, and Mills said he agreed this would bring more truthful results than if athletes were warned.
Committee members also said athletes would be tested for anabolic steroids in all drug tests to ensure that student athletes will not have a competitive advantage.
Following the meeting, Jeffrey Loken, a freshman in sports management and a manager at the new Carmichael Complex, showed the board members around the facility.
Loken said the complex will open up a lot of opportunities with energy-saving light systems and new classrooms for physical education classes.
Tom Stafford, vice chancellor of student affairs, said he was impressed by the facility, which included treadmills that Mills said cost around $10,000 each.
“When we make requests for fees, this is what it’s for,” Stafford said.