No tuition refunds, contingency budget cuts: UNC schools ready for reopening challenges
With students, faculty and staff preparing to return to North Carolina universities over the next few weeks as the COVID-19 pandemic worsens, UNC System leaders on Thursday discussed how they will handle the inevitable financial, educational and public safety challenges ahead.
The system is preparing for “worst-case scenarios” for its budget and reaffirmed that it won’t be lowering or refunding tuition and fees, even if campuses shut down and move classes online.
Dr. David Weber, medical director of UNC Hospitals’ Departments of Hospital Epidemiology, gave Board of Governors members an update on what we know about COVID-19 to inform their decisions that will impact campus operations this fall. Weber is also a professor of medicine, pediatrics and epidemiology at UNC-Chapel Hill and associate chief medical officer of UNC Health Care.
In North Carolina, there have been more than 100,000 cases, more than 1,600 deaths, about 1,100 people are currently hospitalized and about 10% of tests have been positive, according to Weber. He said the nation is at the highest levels of cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
“This wave we’re in could go on for a very long time because the great majority of people have not been infected,” Weber said.
There’s been a dramatic increase of cases among 18- to 22-year-olds across the nation, in North Carolina and in Chapel Hill, Weber said.
“This is almost certainly due to opening up the society and people not following the guidelines of physical distancing and mask wearing,” Weber said.
People know how to prevent COVID-19 at university campuses — face masks, hand hygiene, disinfecting spaces and 6 feet of social distancing — but the difficulty in achieving that is getting the message out to students, Weber said.
“If [students] don’t follow the guidelines and they go to towns or in dorms rooms and have parties and don’t physical distance and don’t wear masks, there will be transmission,” he said.
How would a campus shut down this fall?
A number of factors could force a particular university to halt campus operations and move classes online this fall. Universities will be reporting cases of COVID-19 on campus to their local county health departments.
Chancellors have been told to comply with any order or recommendation to shut down in-person learning that comes from the institution’s county health director, according to UNC System spokesperson Josh Ellis.
Without that intervention from the county, any decision on making a campus online only would need to be made in consultation with the UNC System president and the board, Ellis said.
If a campus wanted to delay in-person instruction and start the fall semester online, as Clemson University recently announced, the president and UNC board would have to approve it, unless the county health director advises that change.
Each campus has developed plans for multiple scenarios, including all in-person, all online or a hybrid version, for delivering classes, so they won’t be ”starting from scratch” if that happens, Ellis said. Any moves wouldn’t necessarily be systemwide, and some campuses could remain open if another were to shut down.
At a media briefing after the meeting, Board Chair Randy Ramsey said the system may evaluate each university differently, because some may be in hot spots for cases and hospitalizations. But the board wants to make sure a campus doesn’t make the decision to close on its own.
“We are a system of 17 campuses,” Ramsey said. “We want to ensure the leadership of the system is very closely involved in any decision that may impact those campuses.”
No refunds for tuition and fees
At the meeting, board members recognized that how courses are delivered this fall may need to change in response to COVID-19 getting worse. They expect questions about tuition and fees if courses move.
In a split vote, the board affirmed its stance that tuition and fees won’t change and will not be refunded if there are any changes in instructional format for any part of the 2020-21 academic year.
“It is important that our universities continue to operate and provide instruction and essential services, and the tuition and fees that we collect are important to sustaining this important mission not just for today’s students, but for the students who will attend our institutions in the future,” the board’s resolution says.
The issue was highly debated, both in the budget committee meeting Wednesday and among the full board Thursday.
Beyond the universities needing the money, some board members and UNC-Wilmington Chancellor Jose Sartarelli said students are getting the same value with face-to-face and online classes and both ultimately lead to a diploma.
But board member Marty Kotis, while saying said he understands the university system needs these funds, argued that students get an “inferior experience” if they have to take online classes via Zoom.
“If we have to shift back, we’re almost overcharging them with tuition,” Kotis said. “Adding fees on top of that is adding insult to injury.”
Isaiah Green, president of UNC-Asheville’s student body and the president of the UNC System’s Association of Student Governments, said students shouldn’t have to pay the same tuition if all of their classes are online or if campuses move online this semester.
“It’s just not fair to them or their families for the ... unequal quality of their education that they hadn’t signed up for in the beginning,” Green said.
Budget cuts and contingency plans
Last week, the board told chancellors on all 17 campuses to submit plans for cutting their budgets by up to 50% in preparation for the fall semester during the pandemic.
Ramsey’s email also asked chancellors to report on the impact of closing campuses and canceling fall sports.
When asked about those reports at a media briefing Thursday, Ramsey said this modeling has been going on in different forms since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
“We want to look at worst case scenarios going forward for the UNC System,” Ramsey said. “We certainly hope we don’t ever see a 50% cut in the financial models, but I think it is only prudent and it’s our fiduciary responsibility to ensure that we understand what that might look like.”
Importance of wearing face masks
As board members heard updates on the coronavirus pandemic from a health expert and discussed campus operations for the fall, most in the room were not wearing face masks for the duration of the meeting.
Many of the board members attended remotely, but those in the room took their masks off when speaking. Some who had masks were taking them on and off or pulling them down off of their faces throughout the meeting.
Board members were sitting in chairs that were spaced out, per social distancing guidelines and sharing a podium to speak from. Some of them put masks on when they went into closed session and got out of their seats to walk around or out of the room.
When asked about board members not wearing face coverings while students and faculty are expected to wear them during classes and around campus, Ramsey said they were making their best effort to socially distance in the room.
“It is certainly difficult to get our points across ... it’s not as easy with masks on,” Ramsey said. “But we take the health and safety of the people of North Carolina very seriously, and I think we have a proven track record of that up until and going forward.”
At the media briefing, UNC System interim President Bill Roper mentioned the report from Dr. Weber about COVID-19 and highlighted in some detail the value that masking and social distancing does for preventing the transmission of the virus.
“It’s my earnest hope that people will do the right thing,” Roper said. “Ultimately, it requires individual decisions by 300 plus million people in America, and that’s what we’re trying to communicate.”
During the board meeting, Roper said universities will provide masks for students. He said the plan is to give each student five masks and replenish those as needed.
Changes in board responsibilities
The board discussed three major changes to UNC System policy that will be up for review at the September meeting.
One revision clarifies the duties and responsibilities of board members, how they will receive and adjudicate complaints and removals. Those changes were spurred by complaints and criticism of board members misusing their power, including Tom Fetzer initiating a personal investigation into former ECU interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach and ECU Board of Trustees members meddling in student elections.
That student election at ECU also prompted discussion about improving the policies and practices of the elections process at each university, including financial transparency. The committee proposed to add a new section of the UNC System policy manual that prohibits university board members and employees from contributing to or influencing a school’s student government elections.
The board also discussed amending the chancellor selection process to allow the UNC System president to develop potential chancellor candidates within the system and select two individuals as candidates to be interviewed by the search committee and put on the list of finalists.
These policy changes will be voted on by the full board at the next board meeting, scheduled for Sept. 16-17.
Welcome to Hans, farewell to Roper
In his remarks, Ramsey welcomed president-elect Peter Hans, who officially begins his role on Aug. 1. He also thanked Roper for his contributions to the UNC System over the past year and a half, particularly his “collaborative spirit,” “calm, thoughtful demeanor” and expertise guiding them through the pandemic.
Roper was recognized with an honorary degree of public service from Elizabeth City State University, and UNC-CH has agreed to name a building or another space in Roper’s honor. The board also passed a resolution of honor for him at the meeting.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 6:24 PM.
