UNC administrators discuss how to spend revenue from tuition hike

University administrators are beginning to plan for the near future, when the pressure of budget cuts will have subsided.

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bruce Carney gave a presentation Tuesday outlining his plans for the University, focusing on how best to use the revenue generated by the upcoming tuition increase.

“It’s a good point to stop and think about the things that are important to us as we come into a summer where we’re not going to be making huge cuts,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp at the joint meeting of the chancellor’s advisory committee and the faculty executive committee.

Thorp said this will be the first year the University hasn’t had to make significant cuts since he became chancellor.

Carney said their first priorities are students and faculty.

UNC is looking to expand bachelor-master dual degree program options and will work this semester to add a global studies dual degree program, he said.

The honors program is in the midst of expansion as well. The goal is to eventually accept 400 students per class, which is double the usual rate of 200. This fall, 270 students were admitted.

The University is looking into establishing class registration priority for students with significant commitments outside of school, such as students who provide extensive support to their families.

Carney said UNC is also looking into adding an option on the housing application that would allow students to express interest in rooming with an international student.

This year, UNC fully reinstated the Faculty Spousal and Partner Hiring Assistance Program, which provides financial assistance to universities hiring couples together as a way to better recruit faculty, Carney said.

The program was terminated two years ago in a round of budget cuts.

All of this, Carney said, will take several years to accomplish.

“We have a pretty good estimate of what it’s going to cost,” Carney said. “It will be rather more than what we’re getting from tuition this year, but it’s achievable in a few years.”

Nicole Hurd, executive director of the National College Advising Corps, gave a presentation on the progress of the organization.

The program, headquartered at UNC, trains recent college graduates and sends them to low-income schools. There, they act as advisors to high school students and encourage them to pursue a post-secondary education.

“(The advisors) are there for two years and then we replace them,” Hurd said.

The program is funded entirely through grants and fundraising. It currently advises 110,000 students across the country.

Hurd says the program’s success is due to what she calls “near-peer mentoring.” Recent graduates connect more with high school students than an adult counselor would, she said.

“That’s the beauty of putting a 22-year-old in a school,” Hurd said. “They see things we don’t see.”

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