Ross' 10 percent cap is the right first step to find a middle ground

UNC-system President Thomas Ross sent an important message with his proposed 10 percent cap on tuition increases: some increases are necessary to maintain educational quality, but it is equally necessary to limit these increases, lest we lose the character of North Carolina’s excellent public universities.

Students may object that even the 10 percent cap on tuition increases for in-state students would be drastic. They may be right.

But 10 percent is better than the 15.6 percent tuition increase proposed by the UNC-CH Board of Trustees. And it is a far cry from the increases the trustees proposed for the next five years, which would amount to a staggering 40 percent.

Ross’ recommendation also differed from the trustees’ in the number of years over which his increases would be implemented. While trustees suggested a plan that spans half a decade, Ross’s would take effect over the next two years.

Given the volatility of today’s economic conditions, especially in North Carolina, it makes little sense for the UNC-system Board of Governors to sign off on a five-year plan for tuition increases.

Ross’s plan offers a more reasonable course. If the Board of Governors follows Ross’ plan, it can revisit the tuition issue in two years and re-evaluate the needs of the UNC system in the economy of 2014.

For students currently in high school in North Carolina, a guarantee that tuition won’t increase more than 10 percent in the next two years could determine whether or not they think college is a realistic option.

The possibility of a 40 percent increase, on the other hand, could very easily be a deal-breaker for low- and middle-income students as they navigate the already daunting process of applying to college.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the numbers of the tuition debate; to be sure, the focus of the discussion is and should be the bottom line.

But it’s also crucial that students, trustees, administrators and members of the Board of Governors keep the larger picture in mind.

Anyone with a stake in this university should consider carefully the long-term consequences of a significant increase in tuition. The Board of Governors especially must put this year’s increases in the context of a larger reactionary trend in the UNC system during recent years.

As the state legislature has imposed ever-deeper budget cuts, UNC-system schools have adjusted, finding a new equilibrium through a combination of cuts and tuition increases.

But we can’t continue to burn the candle from both ends. Cuts to programs and salaries will cripple UNC’s ability to continue to draw top-tier faculty and talented students, both from within and from outside the state of North Carolina.

And a shift toward higher tuition, whether it occurs over the course of a decade or a single year, will also change the pool from which this university draws. The diversity on which we now pride ourselves could suffer tremendously.

The Board of Governors must strike the best balance possible between prohibitively high tuition costs and anemic, revenue-starved budgets. Go too far in either direction, and UNC runs the risk of becoming mediocre academically or inaccessible to those for whom it was created.