No more free rides: Automatic NCSSM tuition waiver should be phased out

To preserve academic prestige in the fiscal crisis the UNC-system must both ensure it receives adequate funding from tuition and that its applicants are of the highest caliber.

But granting automatic tuition waivers to graduates of the North Carolina School of Science and Math can run counter to both these goals.

Gov. Bev Perdue has proposed in her 2009-10 budget to phase out tuition wavers to NCSSM graduates.

NCSSM is the only high school in the UNC system and is regarded as a highly competitive public school. Many of the state's best students graduate from NCSSM.

But assuming that all NCSSM graduates are academically qualified for tuition waivers is unfair to the many other high-achieving N.C. high school graduates.

As a fairer alterative the UNC system could offer a separate merit-based scholarship application exclusively for NCSSM students.

Especially in a time of fiscal crisis only merit should judge whether an applicant should enjoy financial rewards — not high school of origin.

NCSSM officials cite that 80 percent of graduates stay in state since the tuition grant went into effect in 2003 while only 55 percent stayed in state prior to the grant.

But by making NCSSM students apply for scholarships the UNC system could spend less on tuition waivers while ensuring the top students from NCSSM receive recognition.

And phasing out tuition wavers will not affect current NCSSM alumni at UNC. They would keep their tuition grants.

A NCSSM merit-based scholarship will ensure the UNC system only delegates financial rewards to those who earn it.