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Chapel Hill -- As was expected Friday, the UNC Board Of Governors unanimously approved tuition increase requests from the university system's 16 college campus that on average would cost undergraduate students 5.2 percent more next academic year.
The requests will now be forwarded to the General Assembly for consideration during its short session scheduled to begin sometime in May.
UNC System President Erskine Bowles hopes lawmakers will accept the tuition plan approved by the board as an alternative to a state plan that would raise undergraduate tuition an average of 7.2 percent and steer all revenues to the state's General Fund.
Instead, Bowles wants to keep the $34.4 million in revenue the UNC system plan would generate, of which 50 percent would go toward need-based aid. Twenty-five percent of the revenue would be spent on retention and graduation efforts and the remaining 25 percent on other critical needs.
"I think the approach we've made is good sense, it places less of a burden on North Carolinians who themselves or their parents have provided the capital to build this great university," Bowles said in an interview.
Bowles believes state legislators will look upon the plan favorably, but warns that the state is facing several serious financial issues.
"I think the legislature will see the merits of it, but they have big financial questions to deal with themselves," Bowles said.
Already, the UNC system has been asked to trim its budget by 2 percent and to create scenarios for 3, 5 and 7 percent budget reductions.
"I think we can manage through the 2 percent cuts that's in the draft of the budget submitted last year, but beyond that, it will be a lot of pain to the academic side," Bowles said, responding to a question by a Daily Tar Heel reporter. "If I were a student, or just a regular citizen of North Carolina, that's where I'd be concerned."
State Rep. Mickey Michaux, D-Durham, said lawmakers are supportive of the UNC system's plan, but the state's budget outlook is "very bleak."
"We've had some expenses come up that were not anticipated," said Michaux, senior chairman of the Appropriations Committee. "Unless our income picks up, we're going to be looking at major cuts."
Michaux said the state is facing a $290 million overrun in the state Department of Health and Human Services and rising Medicaid costs due to high unemployment.
"The rubber is hitting the road there," Michaux said.
The 5.2 percent average increase is the equivalent of $131 for undergraduate students. Individual campuses proposed increases ranging from 3.6 percent to 6.5 percent.
At UNC, for example, Chancellor Holden Thorp has asked for a 5.2 percent increase, which means tuition for in-state undergraduate students would increase by $200.
In Durham, N.C. Central University Chancellor Charlie Nelms has asked for a 5 percent increase that would add $113 on to undergraduate tuitions.
Out-of-state students across the system would also see higher tuitions, ranging from a low of $110 at N.C. A&T to a high of $927 at UNC.
The board also approved tuition increases for graduate programs and student fees.
