Legislature should obey state constitution on funding UNC system
Published November 13, 2013
Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, November 13, 2013.
Somewhere along the line, the words of the state constitution got lost in the making of University of North Carolina system tuition policy.
The legislature and the UNC Board of Governors have been ordering sizable tuition increases for at least a decade now -- the pace of those increases accelerating during the economic slowdown -- despite a clear constitutional admonition against such a practice.
Article IX, Section 9, says: “The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.”
Even non-lawyer editors can see that the constitution does not say “as far as convenient” or “as far as affordable so we can cut taxes every year.” Practicable is a word used more in the earlier days of our republic than at present, and it means, “capable of being effected,” according to The American Heritage dictionary, or “feasible.”
The members of the board of governors may be congratulating themselves on their emerging policy for setting tuition increases for the next four years, but what they are considering does not appear to be informed by the constitution.
The board of governors is looking at a 5-percent limit on any tuition increases in the four years starting in 2015. And that cap could be adjusted up or down depending on legislative appropriations. Considering that many in the current legislative leadership applaud that the state flagship universities of Virginia and Michigan have become public/private schools with vastly reduced state appropriations, the best prediction is that UNC funding will continue to slide and that the 5 percent cap will rise.
Even at 5 percent, however, the cap does not comply with Article IX. It is four times the September inflation rate of 1.2 percent. That’s not as free as practicable.
The board of governors should make photocopies of Article IX and send them to our 170 legislators along with an admonition to obey the constitution and provide adequate funding for our public university system.
November 13, 2013 at 9:05 am
Richard Bunce says:
Free of expense? Hardly. Whether a student pays tuition directly or pays their entire working life through taxes they are still paying... well unless they get one of those junk degrees and end up not working for the rest of their life... then it would be free of expense.
November 13, 2013 at 7:59 pm
Norm Kelly says:
'practicable'. So does this mean that the cost of higher education in our state should be a burden on the general public? Or is it better that the cost of the education be shared by both taxpayers and the person attending the school? Why should 'practicable' mean free? Did the original writers of our state Constitution intend the word to be 'free'? If the goal is to force me to pay for higher education, even though I have not taken advantage of higher education in NC, in unlimited funds, then there is something wrong with the system and the proposal.
Shouldn't practicable also mean that the school system must live within some sort of budget? If the school wants to hire the governors wife at an outrageous salary, to work part time, should that come out of my butt pocket? There are more administrators in the college system in North Carolina than anyone can shake a stick at. Can the huge, outrageous overhead of all that administration actually be justified? I think not, and it's about time the 'practicable' include living within some sort of guidelines. 'practicable' does not now mean, and could not have meant it at the time of writing, that colleges/universities have an unlimited budget that they can p-i-_-s away to their hearts content. Shouldn't professors be required to work some hours during the week in order to earn the lavish income they are provided by taxpayers? Liberals love to complain about the outrageous salaries of executives in private companies. But they turn around and go out of their way to justify the same type of outrageous salaries of their buddies in the education system (college level, people!). Can't let liberals off the hook for one if they want to jab me with the other.
November 14, 2013 at 10:56 am
Richard Bunce says:
College/University budgets one of the few thing growing faster than healthcare expenses. If you are a private institution not taking government dollars... have at it, price yourself out of the market. If a student with a government funded scholarship decides to go to a high priced private school the student should make up the difference and someone should question whether the student needed the scholarship if it was based on economic need.
