Post by Bornthrilla on Feb 10, 2005 13:46:11 GMT -5
A&T seeking decrease in tuition
2-10-05
By Lanita Withers
Staff Writer
News & Record
GREENSBORO -- While some universities in the UNC system are seeking tuition increases, N.C. A&T Chancellor James Renick is taking a different stance.
Next Wednesday, Renick will ask the university's Board of Trustees to rescind a campus-based tuition increase for the 2005-06 school year.
"While it is still true that tuition in North Carolina and at A&T is still a bargain and at the low end of tuition in America, it is also true that we are increasingly concerned about our students and their parents' abilities to pay for higher education," Renick said in a statement.
"Given the uncertainty of student aid at the federal level, A&T seeks to make a concerted attempt at keeping the tuition and fees affordable for all of our students."
Campus-based tuition increases apply to only one school, not the entire UNC system. A&T's original proposal called for a $225 increase for in-state students and a $300 increase for out-of-state students, changes that would have raised $2.3 million for the university, said Willie T. Ellis Jr., vice chancellor for business and finance at A&T.
In-state undergraduate students currently pay about $1,800 in annual tuition. Out-of-state students pay about $11,200.
Possible changes in federal financial aid programs, such as altering who is eligible for Pell Grants, played into Renick's request, university officials said.
"You always have to be cost sensitive when you're pricing your tuition," Ellis said.
"About 80 percent of students at N.C. A&T are on some type of financial aid. There are some dynamic changes going forward with the Pell Grants and possibly with other federal programs. When you take all that into consideration ... it may not be in the best interest of the students to raise that campus-based tuition right now."
Thirty percent of the revenue raised by the increases would have gone toward financial aid; the rest would have been applied to recruiting and retaining faculty and staff, he said.
The university is working to find other ways to fund those projects.
"In essence, what that would mean is we would either have to reduce some expenditures or re-allocate funds that were earmarked for other activity," Ellis said. "We've been successful in meeting the needs of finding funds to address recruitment of new faculty in the past."
Renick's recommendation to roll back the tuition increase is a first for the university, Ellis said.
The possible tuition reprieve is welcomed by senior Latiera Streeter, 21, who said she's had a tuition increase every year.
"That would be very good news for me," said Streeter, who plans to graduate in December. "I'm an out-of-state student and the tuition increases have definitely impacted me. ... Every year, I have to keep taking out more loans and more loans."
Blake Johnson, a 21-year-old sophomore at A&T, said he agreed with the chancellor's decision.
"Basically, it takes a lot of burden off my shoulders," Johnson said. "Students, we need a break. Loans are killing us. It's hard enough to graduate. That's just more stress that we don't need."
2-10-05
By Lanita Withers
Staff Writer
News & Record
GREENSBORO -- While some universities in the UNC system are seeking tuition increases, N.C. A&T Chancellor James Renick is taking a different stance.
Next Wednesday, Renick will ask the university's Board of Trustees to rescind a campus-based tuition increase for the 2005-06 school year.
"While it is still true that tuition in North Carolina and at A&T is still a bargain and at the low end of tuition in America, it is also true that we are increasingly concerned about our students and their parents' abilities to pay for higher education," Renick said in a statement.
"Given the uncertainty of student aid at the federal level, A&T seeks to make a concerted attempt at keeping the tuition and fees affordable for all of our students."
Campus-based tuition increases apply to only one school, not the entire UNC system. A&T's original proposal called for a $225 increase for in-state students and a $300 increase for out-of-state students, changes that would have raised $2.3 million for the university, said Willie T. Ellis Jr., vice chancellor for business and finance at A&T.
In-state undergraduate students currently pay about $1,800 in annual tuition. Out-of-state students pay about $11,200.
Possible changes in federal financial aid programs, such as altering who is eligible for Pell Grants, played into Renick's request, university officials said.
"You always have to be cost sensitive when you're pricing your tuition," Ellis said.
"About 80 percent of students at N.C. A&T are on some type of financial aid. There are some dynamic changes going forward with the Pell Grants and possibly with other federal programs. When you take all that into consideration ... it may not be in the best interest of the students to raise that campus-based tuition right now."
Thirty percent of the revenue raised by the increases would have gone toward financial aid; the rest would have been applied to recruiting and retaining faculty and staff, he said.
The university is working to find other ways to fund those projects.
"In essence, what that would mean is we would either have to reduce some expenditures or re-allocate funds that were earmarked for other activity," Ellis said. "We've been successful in meeting the needs of finding funds to address recruitment of new faculty in the past."
Renick's recommendation to roll back the tuition increase is a first for the university, Ellis said.
The possible tuition reprieve is welcomed by senior Latiera Streeter, 21, who said she's had a tuition increase every year.
"That would be very good news for me," said Streeter, who plans to graduate in December. "I'm an out-of-state student and the tuition increases have definitely impacted me. ... Every year, I have to keep taking out more loans and more loans."
Blake Johnson, a 21-year-old sophomore at A&T, said he agreed with the chancellor's decision.
"Basically, it takes a lot of burden off my shoulders," Johnson said. "Students, we need a break. Loans are killing us. It's hard enough to graduate. That's just more stress that we don't need."
