UNC-Chapel Hill trustees set new powers in campus decisions and propose tuition changes
The UNC-CH Board of Trustees will have a bit more power starting next year — a change that was set in motion by a directive from the UNC System’s governing board.
The biggest change is that the board will now approve new hires for senior academic and administrative officials, board Chairman Dave Boliek said after the trustees meeting Thursday.
“It will give the board an opportunity to see firsthand higher salary and high-performing positions that will give us sort of a framework and a context for budgeting,” said Boliek, who proposed the changes.
The trustees recently reviewed where power is delegated and who makes decisions on campus issues, from tenure to employee salaries to tuition.
Their proposal was approved by UNC System President Peter Hans last week and by the full board at its meeting Thursday.
The board also proposed increases in tuition, housing and dining costs for students at that meeting, which still need approval from the Board of Governors.
The UNC System Board of Governors instructed each campus to review and outline their delegated authorities in July. The directive came amid heightened concerns from faculty across the system about shared governance.
UNC-CH and its Board of Trustees were thrust into the national spotlight over its handling of tenure for journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. She was set to join the faculty this fall, but turned down the offer after the public battle over her tenure and pushback from Walter Hussman, the journalism school’s namesake and top donor.
While some powers shifted at Carolina with this review, the authority to grant tenure to faculty members remains with the Board of Trustees.
Changes in delegated authority
Starting in January, the board will approve new hires for senior academic and administrative officers like they do for deans and vice chancellors. That change will give board members more information about individual salaries, job descriptions and how those positions relate to the strategic plan heading into the budget process, according to Boliek.
The board will also approve salary ranges and salary changes for athletics assistant coaches, which it already does for head coaches. Those salary changes are also approved by the UNC System Board of Governors.
The chancellor will now have more power in faculty appointments.
Currently, deans of schools hire all fixed-term faculty members. Now, faculty appointments of greater than three years with at least a $100k salary would go to the chancellor and then be sub-delegated to the provost. All other faculty appointments will be sub-delegated directly to the deans.
The rationale behind this change is to give the chancellor a better handle on those longer-term and highly paid faculty members, according to Boliek.
The board also proposed an amendment to change the final appeal authority with respect to admissions. The UNC-CH trustees wanted that power to have the final say on an individual admissions case that’s being appealed, which currently lies with the provost. Hans requested that the board omit that change in his memo regarding the proposal.
He suggested that trustees further study and discuss what that authority would look like, including how they would review individual admissions decisions and how that might affect current and future admissions lawsuits.
Boliek discussed that specific proposal with Hans and said the board could adopt that authority in the future.
Hans’ review of other campus proposals was primarily focused on their clarity and compliance with system policy, according to spokesman Josh Ellis. He said Hans requested modifications to multiple campuses’ proposed resolutions.
Tuition increases for some students
Schools are not allowed to increase tuition for in-state students and tuition won’t change during their academic career, per UNC System guidelines.
But overall the total cost of attendance for undergraduate students from North Carolina could go up by about $300 to $25,000 for the 2022-23 academic year. Tuition and housing make up the bulk of that cost at about $7,000 each.
For out-of-state undergraduate students, the total cost of attendance would be $52,873, about a $1,000 increase from last year. Tuition makes up the majority of that cost. The board proposed a 2% tuition increase for undergraduate out-of-state students to $35,580 for the 2022-23 academic year.
UNC-CH Chief Financial Officer Nate Knuffman said this rise in cost reflects the university’s commitment to affordability while bringing in about $2 million of additional funds. Student tuition and fees made up 12% of revenue in 2020.
The committee members approved the changes without much discussion, but were interested in how UNC-CH compares to market rates and peer institutions.
UNC-CH’s tuition and fees are among the lowest of its public and private school peers, even with the proposed slight increases. The university considers UCLA, Virginia, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Duke, Vanderbilt and Northwestern among its peers.
The UNC School of the Arts is currently the most expensive in the UNC System, with N.C. State University and UNC-CH following closely behind.
A breakdown of tuition and fees
The proposed annual tuition and fees for the 2022-23 academic year at UNC-CH are:
▪ Undergraduate NC resident: $8,987
▪ Undergraduate Nonresident: $37,548
▪ Graduate NC Resident: $12,523
▪ Graduate Nonresident: $30,815
Fee rates are identical for resident and non-resident students and include costs for student government, athletics, campus security, student health and debt services. Trustees voted to reduce students’ debt service fees for the Student Union and intramural fields from about $60 to $20.
The board also proposed to eliminate the application fee for the Pharm.D. program in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy Application to reduce barriers to applying to the program.
The tuition for the MBA program at Kenan Flagler Business School could also go up for out-of-state students by 2% or about $1,200 to $65,015. And the MBA for Executives two-year evening program could increase by 7% to just under $95,000.
Last year, the UNC System Board of Governors approved fee increases for all undergraduate students at each university with an average of about $60 or just under 1% last year. Fees increased by $40 to $1,586 at UNC-CH.
Will housing and dining costs go up?
Housing and dining costs are also part of the overall cost of attendance at UNC-CH.
Campus meal plans will increase by an average of 4.7% for students. This increase is in line with generally higher food and labor costs.
At most UNC System schools, at least 40% of undergraduate students live on campus. It’s 42% at UNC-CH, compared to 32% at N.C. State.
The board proposed about a 2% increase across the board for housing, including in residence halls, Rams Village apartments and family and graduate student housing. In dorms and campus apartments that’s less than a $100 increase per semester and will total between $3,400 and $4,600 per semester.
The UNC System Board of Governors will review all the proposed tuition and fee rates at each campus between January and March. The Board of Governors will then approve the rates for the 2022-23 academic year.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 6:30 AM with the headline "UNC-Chapel Hill trustees set new powers in campus decisions and propose tuition changes."
