House Tuition Plan Heads to Senate

If the amendment is approved by both chambers of the legislature, in-state students at UNC-Chapel Hill will receive a tuition refund of about $50 for the semester and out-of-state students will pay about $2,000 in additional tuition to the University for the year.

The amendment was part of a continuing budget resolution that the legislature needs to pass by midnight today in order to avoid a government shutdown.

The resolution passed the Senate last week, and the House version will head back there today for reconsideration.

If the Senate makes further changes to the resolution, a conference committee will be called to iron out the differences between the two proposals.

The tuition increase amendment, proposed by Rep. Cary Allred, R-Orange, was added to a continuing budget resolution by a 65-54 vote.

The amendment was struck down Tuesday morning in the House Rules Committee, but Allred brought it back up before the full House later that night.

The resolution, the third such passed by the House, provides funding for the state government while legislators try to fashion a budget -- nearly two months after the start of the fiscal year.

A multimillion dollar shortfall has complicated legislators' tasks and left them seeking alternative sources of funding, such as raising taxes and increasing tuition.

The Allred amendment passed the House with 66 votes earlier this summer while the Senate passed a budget that split the tuition increase between in-state and out-of-state students.

But in closed-door budget negotiations last week, lawmakers reached a compromise of a 9 percent across-the-board tuition increase.

Allred said he continued pursuing the tuition hike for out-of-state students because a provision of the N.C. Constitution states tuition should be as free as practical for residents.

"I don't think the taxpayers of North Carolina should subsidize the students from another state, especially when it means making it more difficult on in-state students," he said.

The continuing resolution approved by the Senate last week originally called for a 9 percent systemwide tuition increase.

Allred added that out-of-state students do not pay enough in tuition and fees to cover their educational expenses -- forcing the state to spend more than $1,200 per capita each year on their education.

Allred said the proposal would likely prove contentious. "I suppose the Senate will maintain some ruckus about it," he said. "But it has passed the House twice, and I hope they keep that in mind."

But other legislators, such as Sen. Howard Lee, D-Orange, said the amendment would not likely survive the Senate. "The Senate cannot accept this kind of unbalanced increase on out-of-state students."

Lee added that he was somewhat surprised that the House once again passed the amendment, despite the tuition compromise reached last week and signals from Senate leaders that such a tuition increase will not be passed.

"It's difficult, if not impossible, to predict what goes on in the House," Lee said. "It is the most unpredictable governing body in the world as far as I am concerned."

Rep. Ruth Easterling, D-Mecklenburg, said several senators were strong advocates for the UNC system and are unlikely to support such a one-sided proposal. "The diversity that comes in the whole system from (out-of-state students) is a plus," said Easterling, one of four chairmen for the House Appropriations Committee. "It would be a terrible mistake to put (the amendment) into effect.

"And I doubt the Senate will."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.