Students made an appearance at the board of directors meeting Friday morning to make a case against the newly proposed tuition increase of $330.
The meeting inclined students to come forth with ideas and criticisms of the University budget. Daniel Eckert, junior in computer engineering, explained at the meeting that the University has put an emphasis on research, which is increasing costs and lowering classroom value.
“One of the things that I have seen is the difference between research and scholarship from a professional perspective,” Eckert said. “We are asked to continually pay more and more money for an education that’s trending away from a closeness in the classroom.”
Senior Class President John Tucker made an appearance at the meeting, explaining that students need to be informed about the cut. With the information delivered through the monthly “HOWL” email, over one hundred students responded for and against the change in tuition.
“It was incredible how many students actually supported a tuition increase, but they understood what it was going towards,” Tucker said, “The most common theme for those who were for a tuition increase was an increase in the amount of faculty and staff salary increases.”
An increased response from students has been taken well by Student Government, including Chandler Thompson, student body president. Chandler explained that she wanted students to be more informed about what is going on with their tuition.
“Some students really felt the budget cuts this year, and they communicated that to me in their emails,” Thompson said.
Thompson proposed a tuition talk in the Brickyard so that students can voice their concerns openly in a large, popular space for students. She made it clear that tuition information needs to be released and interacted with the student body.
“The last thing that I think anyone wants to see happen is another ‘July Surprise,'” Chandler said.
Last year a tuition increase was proposed in July, right before school started and while most students were away from the University. The increase came without warning to students.
Chancellor Randy Woodson explained in an email that the Board of Governors determines all tuition changes and that the Board of Trustees recommends tuition to them.
“Following this process the BOG authorized universities to consider a one time “catch up” in tuition given the very low tuition we have relative to our peers,” Woodson stated in the email.
Woodson explained that among the University’s land grant “peers,” our University has the second lowest tuition; the catch-up in tuition will be a $1,200 increase over five years. Annually, students will see an increase of about $240, the lowest percentage increase proposed by any UNC-System school.
“In spite of this the significant reductions have resulted in limited class sections and much larger class sizes,” Woodson stated in the email.
Woodson said that the Board of Trustees would like to see faculty pay raises, an increase in hiring, and continuation of providing “critical financial aid.”
Budget cuts and tuition increases have been a theme of the UNC system from the beginning of the recession, problems that all universities are learning to deal with.
Eckert said he believes that the problem is where a confused staff is spending the money.
“We put a 30 percent increase in enrollment and we want a 15 percent increase in faculty,” Eckert said, “I would encourage us to address the identity crisis that we seem to be having in terms of where the money is being spent, and where the money is coming from.”
