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The Daily Tar Heel

Senator Supports Altering Tuition Money Dispersal

Chancellor James Moeser will attempt this summer to prevent legislative cuts to the UNC-CH budget, namely to overhead receipts.

The plan, which the UNC-system Board of Governors approved Wednesday, raises tuition systemwide by 8 percent for in-state students and 12 percent for out-of-state students. The plan allots the revenue to individual campuses for projected enrollment increases and to fund need-based financial aid.

But the General Assembly, which convenes May 28, has the power to alter the board's plan. Last year, the state legislature increased tuition systemwide by 9 percent, overruling the board's proposed hike of 4 percent.

Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, said he might offer a proposal this summer changing how the tuition money is distributed.

"I'll certainly talk to the other members and see if there's sufficient support," he said.

Rand, chairman of the N.C. Senate Rules and Operations Committee, is known as a major supporter of UNC-CH in the state legislature. He said the University likely would lose funding already due to future budget cuts and should not lose additional revenue to other system schools.

Legislators will scour the budget for potential cuts this summer because the state is facing a projected shortfall of more than $1 billion for the 2002-03 fiscal year.

For example, Rand said that if the budget at each UNC-system school was cut this summer by 4 percent, then UNC-CH would lose a disproportionate amount of money because it already surrendered part of its tuition revenue to other campuses. "(The plan) is not in the best interest of the system or of Carolina," he said.

Rand added that legislators might also discuss campus-based tuition increases at UNC-CH. The BOG approved a $300 increase, despite the UNC-CH Board of Trustees' request for a $400 increase.

Rand said the decision the General Assembly reaches on campus-initiated tuition will depend in large part on how the systemwide tuition revenues are distributed.

If UNC-CH keeps its revenue from the systemwide tuition increase, then the $300 campus-based increase would likely remain untouched, Rand said. Otherwise, the campus request might be increased.

But UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser said persuading the legislature to alter the enrollment-based tuition allotment is not the University's top priority this summer. He said he would focus on protecting the University's budget from funding cuts. He said legislators likely would target the University's overhead receipts, which are federal funds allotted for research projects to cover general expenses such as electricity.

The legislature discussed seizing the receipts last year to deal with a budget shortfall but decided ultimately to leave the funds alone. "The $5 million (lost to other campuses) pales in importance to these monumental issues," Moeser said. "It's emotional but relatively minor."

Moeser added that he would not lobby for changes in how the systemwide tuition increase is spent.

"No, we made our point," he said. "But I think it's going to get looked at (by legislators) -- all these issues are."

Moeser said he would not be surprised if legislators altered the board's tuition plan. "I don't have a good track record at predicting what (the legislature) will do," he said. "(But the legislators) have almost never taken a proposal as it stands."

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

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