The UNC Board of Governors will vote on a new tuition guideline Friday that would limit the rate at which UNC-system universities can increase tuition to 5 percent each year and limit the amount of tuition put toward financial aid for lower-income students to an overall 15 percent of tuition revenue.

The guideline was pre-approved by the committee within the Board of Governors Thursday, and the full board will vote Friday, according to the News & Observer.

Currently, five campuses in the system, including N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill, already exceed the 15 percent cap for need-based aid. Because these campuses already exceed the proposed cap, the new guideline will essentially prevent any increases in tuition-funded financial aid for the conceivable future.

While some members of the board see this proposal as a way to ensure middle-class families are not forced to bear a disproportional financial burden, others believe it could limit affordable education for all students, according to the N&O.

Champ Mitchell, a member of the UNC Board of Governors, told the N&O the question at hand was not whether or not need-based financial aid was necessary, but how funding could be used in such a way that was fair to working-class North Carolinians.

Shirley Ort, UNC-Chapel Hill’s associate provost and director of Scholarships and Student Aid, said she disagrees, and that many middle-income students are also benefiting from tuition-funded financial aid.

“I’m keenly disappointed,” Ort said. “The action this [Thursday] morning is going to result in considerably more borrowing among all students who have need of financial assistance in order to be able to afford Carolina.”

UNC-Chapel Hill currently uses 20.9 percent of its students’ tuition to cover financial aid for lower-income students, according to the N&O.

If the board passes the new regulation, it is likely the only new sources of financial aid in the future will come from student loans or donor-funded scholarships.