Charge us on time: Late tuition increases are unfair to students

Inconvenience and tuition seem to go hand in hand. This is true now more than ever.

The state is now requiring UNC-system students to pay more than before to go to school.

But because the budget has taken so long to create UNC had to send out incomplete tuition bills that don't reflect the legislature's tuition hikes.

And if the legislature doesn't pass the budget soon — there was no agreement when The Daily Tar Heel went to print — students might have to deal with the hike in the middle of the fall semester.

That's about as inconvenient as it gets for us.

We might have to find time to drop off an extra check in addition to studying for midterms and deciding to drop classes.

There's a system for raising tuition. The Board of Trustees votes; the students protest; the bills get sent out. It's a good system.

And we prefer that over the legislature's delayed increases.

Obviously the legislature is in a predicament. North Carolina is working through an unprecedented budget shortfall.

But raising tuition after bills have been sent out isn't fair to students because many students and their families have already planned their finances.

Plus some students in the UNC system come from outside North Carolina.

These students and their families might not be up to speed on the state's financial situation.

This means that planning will be even more difficult for out-of-state students.

And they deserve better considering they're paying about $35000 a year to come here.

We understand the need for a tuition increase. But next time we suggest the legislature either finish the budget earlier or find a way to bill students accurately.