UNC system President Ross says no to tuition increases for next year

Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, August 12, 2013.

As they prepare for the impending start of the fall semester, state university students and their parents should be relieved to know they won’t have to reach any deeper into their pockets next year. University of North Carolina system President Tom Ross has said he would not recommend any tuition increases for 2014.

However, while Ross’ pledge to hold the line will help in-state UNC Wilmington students, it will not do anything for those who hail from other states.

The N.C. General Assembly has mandated that out-of-state students pay 12.3 percent more at some institutions, including UNCW. Unless the legislature rescinds its decision, those students can expect higher bills for next year.

Even so, any move to put the brakes on tuition increases is encouraging, and the UNC Board of Governors should support Ross.

The recession was a double-whammy for parents of UNC students. If they were able to hold onto their jobs, they likely saw either a drop in wages or stagnation; others joined long lines of unemployed residents – and those who are still employed will suffer more as extended benefits end. Meanwhile, tuition increased to help make up for deep budget cuts whose impact will be felt for many years.

Tuition for in-state students has risen 90 percent over the past 10 years.

That’s a long way from the state constitution’s mandate that education at a North Carolina public university be free “as far as practicable.” Those increases come as state support for our public universities has weakened.

As Ross pointed out in June, in just the past five years state funding as a percentage of the UNC system has dropped from 73 percent (in 2008) to around 66 percent, leaving students and their hardworking parents to shoulder a larger share of the burden.

Make no mistake, two-thirds is considerable funding support. But hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts over the past several years threaten to reduce the quality of our state’s nationally regarded university system. Classes have been cut, the system is losing top professors – and their valuable research grants – to universities that can spring for pay increases, and classrooms are more crowded.

Those cuts – $95 million systemwide in the coming year alone, $3.9 million for UNCW – will have consequences.

A system can absorb short-term belt tightening as sincere efforts are made to restore and increase funding once economic circumstances improve. What we cannot afford is to allow our universities to fall so far behind that they no longer compete with comparable institutions.

Our public schools, from pre-kindergarten through publicly funded graduate programs, helped North Carolina transition from an economy based heavily on agriculture and textiles to diverse, highly technical industries and knowledge-based businesses that depend on a strong public education system.

But as university budgets are cut, trustees and boards of governors must consider that with every tuition increase, a sizeable number of students are priced out of a four-year college education, or must delay their education. That in turn will affect their earning power, and their ability to compete in a global economy.