Economy to weigh heavily on tuition

CHAPEL HILL -- In crafting a tuition plan for the state's public universities, UNC system leaders generally have a sense of what sort of increase would be palatable to the legislators who control the purse strings.

Not this year.

UNC system officials are facing an added level of uncertainty this month due to rising unemployment and recession as they consider requests by campuses to raise tuition and fees.

"I've heard some [legislators] say 'if y'all raise tuition at all, you're out of touch,'" UNC system President Erskine Bowles said early into a Thursday tuition and fees discussion that lasted nearly twice the 90 minutes allotted for it. "Other people say that if you erode the university's quality ... you will do long-term damage. There is no consensus."

UNC leaders would like to avoid seeing the legislature modify whatever decision is made on tuition and fees. With no way yet to judge what will ultimately be deemed acceptable, the UNC system's Board of Governors began Thursday its annual exercise of vetting tuition and fee increase proposals from member campuses.

But unlike in previous recession years -- 1982, 1990 and 2003 -- the university has set a rate hike ceiling to guarantee some level of predictability and prevent too much financial burden from being placed on students. Tuition cannot rise more than 6.5 percent at any campus, a limit that did not exist in 2003 when it went up 24.7 percent as a reaction to cuts to the state budget.

Five universities -- including UNC-Chapel Hill -- want resident, undergraduate tuition hikes this year that hit that 6.5 percent ceiling. Eight others want lower increases, including N.C. State University, which is proposing a 3.6 percent hike, and N.C. Central University, which wants a 3.1 percent increase. Three universities, N.C. A&T State University, UNC-Charlotte and Winston-Salem State University, do not want to raise tuition next year.

Campuses that raise tuition must use at least 25 percent of that new revenue for financial aid and another 25 percent to supplement faculty pay. Student leaders at campuses asking for tuition hikes said Thursday students are willing to pay more.

"We the students are not looking for a cheap education, but a high-quality, affordable education," said Kent Williams, president of NCCU's student body.

University chancellors said money for faculty pay is particularly vital. James Anderson, hired last year as Fayetteville State University's chancellor, said the extra $118 each of his students would pay in tuition could make a real difference at an institution struggling now to do basic recruiting.

"We don't even have the resources now to bring faculty in for interviews," he said.

At NCCU, chancellor Charlie Nelms said faculty pay revenue that would come from the extra $69 every in-state undergraduate would pay in tuition under his campus request would help stave off raids from other universities -- a common practice during economic downturns.

"It's a confluence of things that allow you to retain or not retain a faculty member," Nelms said. "But in this economy, the salary takes on an added level of significance."

The UNC system's board will discuss tuition and fees again and will likely make decisions at its February meeting.