State lawmakers in North Carolina once again gave Erskine Bowles the thumbs up for a tuition rates increase for state universities. The Board of Governors, General Assembly and Gov. Bev Perdue raised tuition back in March. But that increase was not enough.
The state of North Carolina is facing an $800 million revenue shortfall. With unemployment varied between 10 and 18 percent statewide, this means tax revenues will surely plummet. While many believe that education is priceless, state leaders and education administrators have yet another agenda in mind – to tax students. Education is the states newest “sin tax”. Tobacco was once a cash crop and primary export of our state. Today, tobacco is a thing of the past, because of heavy taxes placed on the industry. Our education system may meet the same fate and peril if legislators continue to raise tuition outpacing the economy. At some point parents and students will no longer seek out our state university system because of affordability.
A recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows a nationwide trend to raise tuition as a result of the U.S. Department of Education Recovery Act funding. Instead of fiscal responsibility and the fear of tax increases during an election year, state lawmakers and university leaders are increasing the nationwide load of tapping from Pell and other federal grant funds, which are rapidly running out of money thanks in part to states raising education costs. With tuition increases nationwide, you don’t need an economics degree to conclude that we are already on a failed path that will require Congress once again to raise educational funding, funding that lawmakers have said may not be politically feasible.
Generally, most laws or changes have a grace period from six months to a year before they are enacted. This is not the case with the Bowles increase. It begins on the 11thhour, just as many parents and students have committed to financial aid or loans. The best our chancellor says is that students can reapply for aid. Tell that to the federal government or Veterans Administration when responses or addendums for loan applications can take weeks or months for review.
An old adage goes that it’s not a child’s fault when adults differ. In North Carolina, this is reversed, based on lack of fiscal responsibility by the General Assembly and administrators that instead penalize students for their states failed budgets and forecast planning. No one is working to help overburdened families for tuition and fees. Not our chancellor. Not our newly elected student leaders. Instead, they congratulated on the tuition increase on recent blog posts.
In an interview last week, UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body President Hogan Medlin said he was surprised the University decided to raise tuition by the maximum amount. He said he was not aware of the reasoning and wished the administration had sought more student input. N.C. State Student Body President Kelly Hook said in an e-mail interview, “We have to stay focused on the future and preparing students to face a potentially worse battle next year.” That can only mean more increases are on the horizon. I guess the “stay focused” part pertains to our wallets. A parent and former alumni at a recent university orientation said, “This is a public university acting more like a private university.”
Our elected student body representatives must be the voice of students, not the verbatim voice of the administration. And the chancellor must be an advocate to state leaders in continuing to recognize that N.C. State is a land grant university and that his office helps secure grants and funding for all the colleges ambitiously and equally. If the students have to do their part in funding the University, the chancellor must do his equitable part as well.
