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SOURCE: The Daily Tar Heel
01.30.07
BOG cap mirrored elsewhere
By: Allison Nichols, Assistant State & National Editor
The UNC-system Board of Governors is not alone in introducing a measure of predictability in a time of spiraling higher education costs.
Public universities across the nation are examining how increasing predictability, affordability and access augments their mission as schools of the people.
Changing demographics have created a need for higher education in order to achieve financial success in the middle class, said Demaree Michelau, project coordinator in policy analysis and research at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
"The notion of making college accessible so that students can succeed is critical," said Michelau, helps states align appropriation, tuition and financial aid policy.
Setting tuition policy
How tuition for public institutions is determined varies greatly among the states. The new UNC-system plan capping the increase for in-state tuition and most fees at 6.5 percent per year for the next four years introduces predictability for residents. By not limiting nonresident tuition, the plan leaves out-of-state students especially vulnerable to hefty hikes.
The UNC-CH Board of Trustees voted Thursday to ask for an additional $1,250 from nonresident undergraduates next year, which follows an increase of $1,100 for the 2006-07 school year.
When funding from the legislature and external funding - also called indirect cost recovery - fall short, the only other way to garner funds is to raise tuition.
The legislature's role
Kate Dixon, spokeswoman for the University of Wisconsin system, said she tries to convey the message that a direct correlation exists between state investment and tuition rates.
Wisconsin will not set tuition for the 2007-08 year until June, but Dixon said tuition hikes have been significant in recent years. "It's been due to decreasing state support."
Last year after the University of California system proposed an 8 percent increase in fees, the legislature bought out the fee increase, thus eliminating extra cost to students.
UC spokesman Ricardo Vázquez said he expects a 7 percent jump in resident undergraduate fees next year, and another buy-out isn't likely.
He said that with the state facing a major fiscal challenge, "We're grateful to the governor and to the legislature for funding some of the key priorities of the university."
Bruce Vandal, director of the Education Commission of the States Clearinghouse, said several states - including Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana and Illinois - have passed legislation similar to the BOG's cap on tuition increases. But, he said, such measures are relatively new and their impact on higher education has not been analyzed extensively.
Competitiveness
Phil Hanlon, associate provost for academic and budgetary affairs at the University of Michigan, and Anne Berens, assistant associate provost, said in an e-mail that maintaining cost-competitiveness with peer institutions always is a concern in setting out-of-state tuition rates.
But as the BOG requirement that resident tuition not exceed the 25th percentile of peer institutions and nonresident tuition the 75th percentile demonstrates, administrators at most state-sponsored universities are most concerned with providing affordable education to residents.
"Resident tuition rates reflect our public mission and responsibility to the state of Michigan," Hanlon and Berens said.
