UNC system may cap tuition

By Frank Ruggiero

ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

The University of North Carolina system may place a 6.5 percent cap on tuition increases, which would apply for the next four years to the system’s 16 campuses, including Appalachian State University.

The plan was released Monday by system president Erskine Bowles, who wrote in a letter to the university chancellors that the system “should meet its constitutional and moral responsibility to keep tuition as low as practicable,” while simultaneously ensuring the universities have sufficient funding to offer “the highest quality education.”

To do so, Bowles will recommend to the UNC Board of Governors to cap tuition and fees on each campus with a baseline level of state appropriations at no more than 30 percent of the total tuition, fees and appropriations.

The plan also requests funding from the General Assembly to hold students eligible for financial aid harmless from tuition and fee increases. Each campus would be required to set aside at least 25 percent of new tuition revenue to its financial aid program. An additional 25 percent would have to be reserved for faculty raises on each campus until salaries are at the 80th percentile of the campus’s peers.

Bowles’ plan comes after the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research released a report that indicated there could be a valid lawsuit against the system for raising tuition seven times in eight years. Per the state constitution, the system is required to keep tuition, as Bowles said, “as low as practicable.”

Appalachian State University Chancellor Ken Peacock attended Monday’s administrative council meeting, where Bowles introduced the plan. “He stressed that he wanted to make sure this campus-based tuition issue we’ve had over the past several years is predictable,” Peacock said.

Peacock added that the plan is designed for flexibility, and money can be allocated between tuition or student fees. “If you get more than 6 percent, then the next year your ceiling will be reduced by that amount,” Peacock explained. “You have to be able to justify a need for [the increase] on campus, at the president’s level and at the board of governors, as well.”

Simply because a university has the right to  a 6.5 percent increase doesn’t necessarily mean it will receive one. Campuses would also have the ability to request more than 6.5 percent, but only under extreme circumstances.

“If you had an expensive, new program that was a great need for the campus, the General Assembly would fund it,” Peacock said. “But, honestly, I don’t think anybody is thinking about surpassing that 6.5 percent now or in four years.”

It’s this point, though, that worries ASU Student Government Association President Forrest Gilliam. “Because the policy allows for an increased limit if the state does not provide enough of a funding increase in a particular budget year, the 6.5 percent number is irrelevant,” he said.

While Gilliam said he appreciated the effort, he said the proposal merely strengthens the notion “that higher education should not learn to live within its means.” Instead of adopting a procedure for increasing tuition, Gilliam suggested instead finding ways to cut costs.

“This will involve tough decisions from all involved, but it’s necessary,” he said.

“We have to remain affordable, and if that means sacrificing a few hardwood floors, marble counters and leather couches, so a kid, who otherwise can’t afford college, can go to school here, then so be it.”

Appalachian’s most recent tuition increase of $400 was approved in February for the 2006-07 year, with 22 percent of the increase going towards financial aid and 15 percent for faculty salaries and equity concerns. The increase brought total tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate to $3,869.50. Tuition and fees for out-of-state undergraduates are $13,611.50.