It was called Carolina First, and by any measure the eight-year fund-raising effort by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was a stirring success. And then some. The university raised $2.38 billion, well past the original $1.8 billion goal. Some $345 million will go for student fellowships and scholarships, and $419 million will go for faculty, including 208 endowed professorships. The figures are head-turning, indeed.

The closing of the campaign follows closely the ranking by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine of UNC-CH as the country's best value in public higher education, a distinction the university has had for seven years in a row. (Other member campuses of the UNC system also did well.)

These things are good news. And even though UNC-CH continues to be regarded as a splendid value, which it undoubtedly is, UNC system officials and those who rule the Chapel Hill campus mustn't lose sight of that proud tradition. Value is tied both to excellent academics and low expenses for in-state students.

North Carolina's constitution, in fact, provides for a low-cost college education, and the tradition has served the state well now for more than two centuries. Many successful alumni, likely many of those who contributed to the Carolina First campaign, can say to this day that they might not have attended college at all had it not been affordable, which not too long ago meant almost free with respect to tuition. In recent years, however, tuition increases have became fairly commonplace, even if costs are still relatively modest.

Also, while the Carolina Covenant program in Chapel Hill provides for a debt-free education for lower-income students, the burden on those in the middle class who may not qualify for much financial aid is greater than it used to be. It's time to hold the line on tuition hikes.

Expenses have escalated nationwide, and the U.S. Senate may be looking into tuition rates and endowments and basically, taking an overview of how colleges and universities handle their money. The prospect of scrutiny from Washington may already have gotten the attention of some in higher education and perhaps made them interested in pulling the reins on students' costs.

It wouldn't be good for the issue to become some sort of convenient political hot button. But it's understandable that concerns about the rising costs of education these days would send constituents to their representatives in Washington.

In the meantime, let's hope leaders of the UNC system understand that being regarded as a great value is a point of pride worth every effort to maintain.

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