THE FACTS: The UNC Association of Student Governments is petitioning against the $200 tuition increase included in the state budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
OUR OPINION: This petition seems like a grand, futile gesture designed to improve the image of student leaders. A concerted phone campaign or series of well-organized protests would better serve this cause.
Do you want to spend $200 more on tuition? We didn’t think so.
That simple message is the gist of the UNC Association of Student Government’s petition calling for the repeal of a $200 increase in tuition, particularly since the universities will get a lousy return on their money. Based on the figures from 2009-2010 on the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management Web site, the UNC System looks to get 14 percent of the state general fund — this would equate to a net loss of $172. And it’s almost impossible to make any justification for such an increase in the face of a shrinking number of available courses and skyrocketing class sizes, especially if financial aid will not help those who already need help paying for college.
But this may indeed be a lost cause, and this petition seems like an opulent, over-the-top gesture in the face of something that will likely happen unless constitutents rally en masse against this increase.
It is odd that Student Government is against this tuition increase on the basis that the money will not go back to supporting the core mission of the university system: providing affordable education to students. The Talley renovation indebtedness fee certainly did not contribute in any obvious way to improving the quality of education at an affordable cost. Yet the Student Senate considered this fee to be a reasonable increase that students should support. Consistency would be a nice thing for students to expect from their peer representatives, particularly when it comes to fee and tuition increases in the wake of a terrible economic recession.
If this petition is to work, it needs to make a more concerted, multi-pronged effort to fight this tuition increase. A petition with 15,000 signatures certainly carries a lot of weight, but if students are truly dedicated to ensuring they pay only for the best education the UNC System can provide, the organizers should coordinate an extensive phone or e-mail campaign and have people directly speak to the legislators.
Such a move indicates students aren’t simply rightfully upset about a tuition increase and took a few seconds to sign a piece of paper or electronic document. A more intensive campaign to have students take time out of their days to contact their state congresspeople would show legislators this tuition increase is an unfair economic burden on students.
It’s good to see student leaders standing up against unnecessary tuition increases, but they must understand that this tuition increase will have the same negative impact on students that the Talley fee will.
