UNC trustees block in-state tuition hike but propose increase for non-residents
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Trustees blocked proposed in-state tuition hike, preserving flat resident rate.
- Committee directed CFO to target 10% nonresident increases and higher grad fees.
- Trustees cited affordability, performance-fund reallocations and administrative costs.
A UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees committee on Wednesday blocked the university administration’s plan to raise in-state tuition, maintaining for now the school’s flat rate of resident undergrad tuition since 2017.
While the decision is intended to maintain affordability for North Carolina families, it may escalate the financial burden placed on out-of-state graduate students.
On Wednesday morning, the board’s Budget, Finance, and Infrastructure Committee directed Nate Knuffman, UNC’s chief financial officer, to scrap the in-state hike and instead create a plan to impose higher increases on other groups of students. The committee deferred a final vote to Thursday, directing Knuffman to come back with a proposal that met its myriad requests.
The meeting came after the UNC System Board of Governors announced in September it would allow campuses to propose a tuition increase — of up to 3% — for the first time since 2017. The board argued the increase was necessary due to inflation and a tightening state budget.
NC State University’s Affairs Committee will consider a 3% tuition increase for all undergraduate and graduate students this week. Current undergraduates won’t be impacted.
UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts, who attended the Wednesday committee meeting, defended the original 3% proposal, saying that it was measured and reasonable given that the university’s operating costs have increased dramatically due to inflation.
However, committee members, led by Chairman Marty Kotis and Trustee Jim Blaine, argued that the increase violated the state’s constitutional mandates to provide the university’s benefits to North Carolina residents as free as practically possible.
“We must explore every other lever before we increase state tuition,” Kotis said.
Kotis added that raising nonresident undergraduate and graduate tuition could generate about $30 million in first-year revenue, exceeding the roughly $800,000 generated in that same time frame by the proposed in-state raise.
A ‘tax’ on UNC?
A common concern among the trustees was that any new revenue raised at UNC-Chapel Hill would be diverted to the UNC System’s performance funding pool and reallocated to other universities.
Multiple trustees referred to this as a “tax.” Knuffman said $7 million was taken from the UNC-Chapel Hill campus for the performance pool — essentially shifting funds to other campuses.
“It’s really hard for me to ask our students and our Carolina families to pay more to fund programs in Raleigh, Cullowhee, and Boone,” Blaine said. “I got a problem with that.”
Blaine implored the university to review its “bloated administrative budget” before asking in-state students to pay more. He referenced reporting from The N&O that showed UNC has paid nearly $1 million to an external public relations firm, the Brunswick Group, since 2024 in an attempt to revamp the university’s communications, marketing and branding.
Roberts argued that rejecting the increase might weaken the university’s position when lobbying the North Carolina General Assembly for crucial enrollment funding.
“I worry about a dynamic in which we’re telling the General Assembly that we need the enrollment funding very badly and (they) turn around and say, ‘Well, you didn’t use the tools we gave you to help yourself with a tuition increase,’” Roberts said.
Directive to university staff on tuition
After multiple hours of debate, the committee reached a consensus to abandon the in-state undergraduate tuition increase.
The final instruction, passed in a motion, directed Knuffman to return to the Board of Trustees meeting Thursday with a revised proposal that:
- Keeps resident undergraduate tuition flat.
- Approves a 10% increase for non-resident undergraduate tuition.
- Increases non-resident graduate tuition to offset revenue lost by keeping in-state tuition flat.
- Approves proposed increases for student fees, including a 7% hike for housing and a less than 4% increase for meal plans.
The full UNC Board of Trustees will discuss the revised tuition and fees proposal before it is formally sent to the UNC Board of Governors, which will make the final decision in early 2026.
This story was originally published November 12, 2025 at 4:37 PM.