Post by Bornthrilla on Oct 3, 2006 12:11:03 GMT -5
Bowles wants 6.5 percent cap on UNC tuition increases
By Erin Gartner
The Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL -- Tuition increases for the 16 UNC campuses would be capped at 6.5 percent for each of the next four years under a plan the system's president, Erskine Bowles, released Monday.
The cap represents the university's average tuition increases over the past 34 years and is slightly higher than the 5 percent national inflation index for higher education, according to the plan. Members of the system's Board of Governors will review it.
In a letter to the board, Bowles said the university must meet its "constitutional and moral responsibility" to keep tuition low but ensure funding is adequate to provide a high-quality education.
The proposal comes amid complaints from students caught off guard by steep tuition increases in recent years.
It calls for predictable increases that would help students plan and prepare, said Bowles' chief of staff, Jeff Davis, who helped draft the plan.
"If you look at tuition increases since 1972, you will see very erratic spikes," he said. "We had a 24 percent increase in one year and three years later, we had zero percent increase."
"If there is a need for funding that can only be met from a tuition increase, the campuses could request an additional tuition increase from the board -- but there would need to be very serious justification, and that proposal would be thoroughly reviewed," he said.
Under the plan, campuses would be required to reserve at least 25 percent of tuition for financial aid and another 25 percent for faculty raises until salaries fell within the 80th percentile of peer campuses.
Debt service fees, which cover costs such as new building construction financed by the campus, would not be considered in the cap, according to the draft. Davis said such fees were infrequent.
Annual tuition increases also could shift to counter changes in state funding.
If appropriations from the General Assembly fluctuated from 6 percent, tuition caps the following year would counter the change by the same percent value.
The recommendations have been given to the Board of Governors' Task Force on Tuition Policy, which will discuss the plan during a meeting Oct. 10.
By Erin Gartner
The Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL -- Tuition increases for the 16 UNC campuses would be capped at 6.5 percent for each of the next four years under a plan the system's president, Erskine Bowles, released Monday.
The cap represents the university's average tuition increases over the past 34 years and is slightly higher than the 5 percent national inflation index for higher education, according to the plan. Members of the system's Board of Governors will review it.
In a letter to the board, Bowles said the university must meet its "constitutional and moral responsibility" to keep tuition low but ensure funding is adequate to provide a high-quality education.
The proposal comes amid complaints from students caught off guard by steep tuition increases in recent years.
It calls for predictable increases that would help students plan and prepare, said Bowles' chief of staff, Jeff Davis, who helped draft the plan.
"If you look at tuition increases since 1972, you will see very erratic spikes," he said. "We had a 24 percent increase in one year and three years later, we had zero percent increase."
"If there is a need for funding that can only be met from a tuition increase, the campuses could request an additional tuition increase from the board -- but there would need to be very serious justification, and that proposal would be thoroughly reviewed," he said.
Under the plan, campuses would be required to reserve at least 25 percent of tuition for financial aid and another 25 percent for faculty raises until salaries fell within the 80th percentile of peer campuses.
Debt service fees, which cover costs such as new building construction financed by the campus, would not be considered in the cap, according to the draft. Davis said such fees were infrequent.
Annual tuition increases also could shift to counter changes in state funding.
If appropriations from the General Assembly fluctuated from 6 percent, tuition caps the following year would counter the change by the same percent value.
The recommendations have been given to the Board of Governors' Task Force on Tuition Policy, which will discuss the plan during a meeting Oct. 10.
