Change of Heart? ECSU Back in NC Tuition Bill; WCU Balks

[Aggie One]

ECSU added back to tuition-cut program

119485 By Jon Hawley
Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Elizabeth City State University was added back to a program that deeply slashes tuition at several University of North Carolina campuses — but it’s not clear ECSU Chancellor Thomas Conway endorsed the idea.

State Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, said in a phone interview Tuesday that Conway, UNC system President Margaret Spellings, and UNC Board of Governors Chairman Louis Bissette all asked him to reintroduce ECSU into legislation aimed at helping UNC campuses bolster enrollment. He had proposed in May putting ECSU into a tuition “buy-down” program under Senate Bill 873.

In addition to other provisions, S873 proposed cutting undergraduate tuition to $500 per semester for in-state residents attending ECSU, Fayetteville State University, UNC-Pembroke, Winston-Salem State University and Western Carolina University. For non-state residents, tuition would be set at $2,500. The proposal – intended to catalyze much-needed enrollment growth – was integrated into the state budget.

The measure drew sharp outcry from alumni of ECSU, Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State, however, who earlier this month went to Raleigh and successfully lobbied Apodaca and other lawmakers to remove the three schools from the tuition-cut proposal.

ECSU National Alumni Association President Abdul Rasheed said in an interview at the time that ECSU alumni were concerned the measure treated the university differently from other UNC campuses and didn't guarantee state funds to offset ECSU's loss of tuition revenue.

Conway himself also voiced skepticism of the reduced tuition proposal, expressing concerns two months ago that the measure would make ECSU seem like a “different category of institution” and call into question the value of an education on the campus.

For the rest of the story:
www.dailyadvance.com/News/2016/06/29/ECSU-added-back-to-tuition-cut-program.html

[Aggie One]

Some WCU alumni speaking out against tuition plan

Julie Ball, [e-mail]
1:51 p.m. EDT June 28, 2016

CULLOWHEE - As North Carolina lawmakers moved closer to approving a proposal that would lower tuition at Western Carolina University and two other public universities, some WCU alumni are speaking out against the plan.

“Western Carolina is not broke. Why try to fix it?” said Tobe Childers, a businessman and 1960 graduate of WCU. “Western has been growing. We’ve asked a number of times the author of this bill why. Nobody has told us why Western Carolina.”

The proposal, which came from Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, has been included in the budget compromise reached between the state House and Senate. State lawmakers are expected to vote on the plan Tuesday.

Apodaca’s original proposal included three historically black colleges, along with WCU and UNC Pembroke. The historically black colleges were later dropped amid criticism that the proposal was an attempt to put those schools out of business.

The most recent version of the proposal includes a provision to lower tuition at three UNC schools - Western Carolina University, UNC Pembroke and Elizabeth City State University, one of the historically black universities included in the first proposal.

The plan would lower tuition to $500 per semester for in-state students and $2,500 for out-of-state students.

The state would pick up the cost of cutting the tuition, a cost estimated at about $26 million for Western Carolina.

But some worry about the long-term willingness of the state to continue to cover that cost.

Childers said another concern is how WCU will accommodate additional students likely to apply when tuition is lowered.

For the rest of the story:
www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/06/28/some-wcu-alumni-speaking-out-against-tuition-plan/86469304/