TO THE EDITOR:
Austin Cooper argued in a letter on February 2 (“UNC should accept more out-of-state students now”) that UNC should raise in-state tuition levels by $4,000 to match our peer institutions, the Universities of Virginia and Michigan. While this may seem like a common sense solution to budget issues, it is an inappropriate way of addressing North Carolina’s specific situation. Data from the US Census Bureau show that in the years 2007-2009, Virginia residents had the sixth-highest median household income levels in the country. Michigan was number 28; North Carolina came in at 42. Census estimates also show that students in Michigan and Virginia are significantly more likely to graduate high school than North Carolina students.
UNC is a state university, not a national university. Its obligations are to the people of this state. Many North Carolina students simply do not have access to the same financial and educational resources as their peers in Virginia and Michigan, so it is all the more crucial that affordable, public post-secondary education be made available to them.
Jordan Preuss
Sophomore
Biology
