A group of about 30 students — mostly from student government — attended Student Body President Mary Cooper’s forum on tuition increases Monday. Cooper will hold a forum each night this week in hopes of raising student awareness about the issue. Tonight’s meetings will be held at 6 p.m. in SASB Upendo Lounge and 7 p.m. in Carroll 111.
Questions and answers
STUDENT: Has UNC taken harder hits than other UNC-system schools because of its ability to attract top high school graduates?
MARY COOPER: The decision of how budget cuts were allocated to UNC-system schools was made by the Board of Governors, who had certain criteria.
While that was one of the reasons, we were cut more because of other reasons, like our ability to get grants and research dollars.
STUDENT: Why has increasing the number of out-of-state student population not been explored?
MARY COOPER: If we were to increase the number of out-of-state students by 500, the net revenue would be only $200,000.
Adding these students when we already have a large population would change the dynamics of the University while not adding much revenue.
Also, the University is required by the Board of Governors to keep the number of out-of-state students per class at or below 18 percent.
Cooper’s reaction
Although the majority of students in attendance were members of student government, Coopers said she was satisfied with the turnout.
“Tonight’s turnout was pretty great,” she said.
“We worked with our student government committees to make sure people came.”
