What if you could pay $10,000 for your entire college education?

For many students and families, higher tuition and fees have become part and parcel of a university education.

The increases come at a time when the economy continues to experience a sputtering recovery, and wages — especially for middle-income families — are stagnant.

But some higher education officials and analysts insist they’ve found a solution to ease the strain on families’ pocketbooks: a $10,000 four-year degree.

The $10,000 degree model originated at universities and colleges in Texas, and proposals have since spread to Florida and California.

With the UNC-system Board of Governors finalizing the system’s five-year strategic plan, some universities in North Carolina could be moving in a similar direction.

“People have been talking about unaffordability in college for a long time,” said Thomas Lindsay, director of the Center for Higher Education at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

“That’s always led to calls to either make it possible for students to pay more by subsidizing their loans even more so that you can borrow more, or by calling on the taxpayers of the state to pay more taxes.

“For the first time now, it’s the universities who are being asked to lower what they charge students. That’s revolutionary.”

While specific packaged degree programs might not be outlined in the final strategic plan — which the Board of Governors will vote on Friday — committees that helped to develop the plan have discussed the potential for offering low-cost degrees, said Hannah Gage, a member and former chairwoman of the board.

Nontraditional students

System leaders have considered degree programs that would involve two years at a community college and two years of online or face-to-face instruction at a university.

These programs would ideally appeal to students who are not interested in obtaining a traditional four-year degree, Gage said, adding that these students might be older and already possess some credits from previous college coursework.

“Everybody doesn’t want the larger (campus) experience, and a lot of families can’t afford it,” she said.

The strategic plan aims to increase the percentage of the state’s bachelor degree-holders to 32 percent by 2018, partially by attracting to the system nontraditional students — including community college transfers and veterans.

‘Utterly impossible’

The idea of a low-cost, four-year degree was first brought into the spotlight by Bill Gates, philanthropist and founder of Microsoft Corp.

At a conference in 2010, Gates said online technology could lower the annual price of a four-year degree “not just to $20,000 but to $2,000.”

Inspired by Gates’ claim, Texas Gov. Rick Perry called on universities and colleges in his 2011 State of the State address to craft $10,000 degree programs — a challenge viewed with skepticism at the time by many in higher education, Lindsay said.

“All the critics said, ‘Oh what an idiot, there’s no way that you can bring the price down that far,’” he said. “They said it’s utterly impossible.”

At the time, Texas public universities’ average tuition and fees were $27,000.

But by the next year, 10 institutions announced that they had either begun or were preparing to participate in a $10,000 degree program, Lindsay said.

Programs like the partnership between Texas A&M University-San Antonio and the Alamo Colleges system combine high school dual credit programs, community college courses and intensive university instruction to offer a degree for a cost of $9,672.

Another $10,000 program in the state is conducted entirely on the campus of the University of Texas-Permian Basin, which is considered by the UNC system as a peer for UNC-Pembroke.

But the cheaper degree models are not without their critics, who say the programs sacrifice quality for price.

Faculty and other higher education observers have panned the proposals for being limited to the sciences and specialized programs — and for their potential to further erode state support for universities.

“I don’t think the way to do it is to just water down degrees — what’s the point?” said Joni Finney, director of the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

The appeal of the $10,000 degree is that it’s a conversation starter, Finney said.

“Is it something that every state and system should consider? The answer is yes.”

Helping the middle class

Lindsay said the $10,000 degree model benefits middle-income students who don’t qualify for need-based aid and can’t afford high university tuition.

While the statewide median family income decreased by almost 4 percent between 2007 and 2011 after adjusting for inflation, average UNC-system tuition and fees increased by almost 21 percent during that span.

Lindsay said that as more students hear about low-cost degree options, the programs will be replicated nationwide.

“More and more parents and prospective students are going to be asking, ‘Where do I get my $10,000 degree?’” he said.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.