BOGged down: UNC should be able to raise tuition without BOG roadblocks.

Members of the UNC-system Board of Governors convened last week to discuss the state legislature’s proposal of a $407 million reduction in funding for the UNC system.

But the BOG is overstepping its boundaries by discouraging any possibility of a supplemental tuition increase in order to mitigate a decrease in state funding.

North Carolina’s established commitment to higher education has been almost certainly undercut by the proposed budget that is poised to become law. Tuition hikes are the next logical step for larger universities to fill the void caused by the cuts.

Board Chairwoman Hannah Gage has publicly stated that the Board of Governors is unwilling to consider the possibility of supplemental tuition increases at state schools because it could encourage the legislature to make deeper reductions in education spending.

The message that the BOG ought to be sending is one of cooperation during tough economic times.

Tuition hikes are anything but ideal, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Jay Schalin of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, based in North Carolina, has advised the system to analyze each campus individually when determining supplemental tuition increases. Indeed, some schools could be better-suited for tuition increases than others.

UNC, for instance, is currently ranked in the bottom quartile for tuition rates among peer institutions, which include the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia and the University of Texas.

Although it is a difficult pill to swallow, UNC would be a very viable candidate for tuition increases in our state.

Pinpointing the schools where tuition increases are viable is the strategy that the BOG needs to be taking, rather than simply wagging its fingers at the proposed Republican budget.

It is of the utmost importance for our state to place a premium on higher education because it indicates a commitment to investing in our children and our future.

Tuition is not and should not be the primary source of funding for higher education in our state. But tuition hikes at certain state schools that can afford it will not change this ideology.

In the years to come, a higher percentage of the burden to attend school will befall the students and families who use them, rather than the already beleaguered taxpayers.

While our legislators need to recognize the premium that has historically been placed on higher education, the BOG needs to open itself up to the possibility of supplemental tuition increases and recognize the dire financial straits that our state faces.

The BOG is right to fight for everyday students to ensure that the UNC system remains the ultimate meritocracy, but not at the expense of financial solvency.