UNC system tuition freeze would benefit students

The University of North Carolina system’s tuition rates are low relative to comparable schools in other states, but a state House proposal to fix tuition for entering students, guaranteeing them the same rate for four years, is worthy.

Comparisons with other states are fine, but North Carolina remains a state where many lag behind in income, and the Great Recession didn’t help. Just as important, it is a state with a constitutional mandate that education should be as close to free as “practicable.”

The university system has raised tuition dramatically during and since the presidency of former President Molly Broad. The reasoning behind those increases has been that the General Assembly hasn’t supported the university as it should have and that additional students must pay more.

But some of the expense at UNC and, for that matter, around the country, has been found in exploding administration costs. The cost of a college education has far outpaced inflation. President Obama has called for colleges and universities to hold down expenses and to look for savings and lower costs for students.

State Republican Rep. Jeffrey Elmore of North Wilkesboro has sponsored a proposal to have the UNC system Board of Governors study the “freeze” idea. The board would do better to go ahead and act: Freeze tuition for entering students for four years.

It would be better still for the system to freeze tuition, period, and instruct member schools to come back to the board with cuts in administrative expenses.

The system then would have a stronger argument to make for more funding for research instruction systemwide.

This story was originally published April 23, 2015 at 7:08 PM with the headline "UNC system tuition freeze would benefit students."