The N.C. legislature is doing the final mop up of the state budget over the next two weeks.
During such difficult economic times everyone must bear the burden, and the UNC system will do its part.
However, the UNC system is the economic engine that drives the state of North Carolina, and protecting our classrooms and research facilities should be one of the legislature's highest priorities.
Studies show that for every $1 invested in higher education, $7 is put back into the state economy. We believe this confirms the importance of higher education to our state.
We continue to urge the members of the conference committee to spare the UNC-system schools and community colleges from unnecessary reductions to our already-stretched budgets. Various aspects of our budget have been targeted over the last few months including overhead receipts and graduate student tuition remissions.
There is a great deal of misunderstanding regarding exactly what overhead receipts are and how vital they are to the university. Within every federal grant awarded to UNC-Chapel Hill, a certain percent is earmarked as "overhead."
This money is intended to fund facilities and administrative expenditures necessary to conduct research (e.g. equipment, building maintenance, etc.).
A few years ago, the General Assembly decided to allow UNC-CH to keep our overhead receipts and allow us to reinvest those funds back into the expansion and development of future research. This was a wise decision.
Our research brings new jobs, new industry, and some of the best and brightest in their fields to North Carolina. It also allows us to keep outstanding students from North Carolina here in the state.
