The Board of Governors will meet to take a vote on the tuition increase proposals from each school in the UNC System Feb. 10. In order for students to be more aware of the process and potential outcomes of the BOG’s decision, campus administrators and student leaders hosted a Tuition Talk Day Wednesday in the Brickyard to answer questions students may have.
The Board of Governors has proposed an increase in tuition by $1,500 over the next five years, labeled a “catch-up” plan. However, UNC System President Tom Ross proposed a different, two-year plan, that would keep the increases at less than 10 percent per year.
Tom Stafford, the vice chancellor for Student Affairs, attended the Tuition Talk and said the BOG is “really split on this [decision].”
“They’re not going to have a unanimous vote,” Stafford said. Once the BOG has made its proposal, the General Assembly will make a final decision, and Stafford said the General Assembly will look really closely at what the BOG has done.
Provost Warwick Arden said although not many students approached them in the Brickyard, he and Chancellor Randy Woodson want to have a good conversation with the students about this process.
“President Ross is proposing, for N.C. State, less than a 10 percent increase. What we originally proposed was a little bit more than that. We’re supportive of President Ross’ proposal,” Arden said.
Last year alone, Arden said the University lost approximately $67 million from the academic budget code, though the total cut was $80 million.
“If the tuition for this year for N.C. State is approved by the board, that will generate about $20 million, one-third of which will go toward financial aid,” Arden said. “We lost, from the cut, $80 million. That was just this year’s loss.”
Arden stressed the University is not trying to make up for the total loss all at once or put it on the backs of the students.
“It’s more about diversifying the resources,” Arden said. The goal is to be able to hire more faculty — which hasn’t happened much in the last couple of years — and add more class sections in order to benefit the students and keep the University competitive.
“We are lucky that North Carolina has been really good to higher education. We’ll still be toward the lower end of our peer group [in tuition rates],” Arden said.
Members of the Occupy NCSU group, who showed up to the talk to confront Woodson, displayed less optimism about the proposed increases.
“Why aren’t people rallying in the streets?” an unidentified member of Occupy NCSU asked Woodson. The same student charged Woodson to hold a rally for the students in protest of the increases.
“It’s not enough. They should be giving us more,” the student replied.
Student Body President Chandler Thompson said Student Government wants to continue to increase the accessibility of administrators, and the Tuition Talk aided in that effort.
“There are other opportunities to talk with the chancellor about tuition — or anything — at his chat for the chancellor times. These events are basically ‘on campus office hours’ for the chancellor. Students can also always email the chancellor, the provost, etc. with a question,” Thompson said. “Student Government is always looking for ideas to engage students with the chancellor, so maybe next year it can be a ‘tweet-up.'”
Students who were not able to come to the Tuition Talk Day in the Brickyard can submit questions online at go.ncsu.edu/tuitionfeesquestions.
