Bill would ask Board of Governors to study fixed tuition in UNC system

UNC students might soon be able to pay the same level of tuition for all four years of school if a new N.C. General Assembly proposal continues to move forward.

The House of Representatives unanimously approved House Bill 657 on Tuesday. If passed in the N.C. Senate, it would require the UNC-system Board of Governors to study fixed tuition rates for UNC-system schools.

The bill, co-sponsored by N.C. Reps. Jeffery Elmore, R-Wilkes, and Julia Howard, R-Davie, aims to address the rising costs of tuition. In the past 30 years, the average cost of tuition for in-state students at public four-year universities has increased by 225 percent.

Nearly 320 schools nationwide have implemented a fixed tuition system, which ensures the cost of education remains the same for students during their entire academic career.

"It certainly has appeal for students — we've heard this in the past — because it builds in a lot more predictability as far as the costs of tuition, from a student standpoint," said Shirley Ort, associate provost and director of the UNC-CH Office for Scholarships and Student Aid.

UNC-CH considered fixed tuition rates in 2009, but ruled against it due to concerns about limited funding and administrative complexity.

"It ties the University's hands, especially in periods of budget cuts, because they can't get additional revenue," she said. 

Andrea Poole, assistant vice president for finance for the UNC system, said tuition fixing is a complicated issue because it requires universities to predict budgetary needs over a four-year period.

"The benefits to the student and the benefits to the system — all of those things really come down to what the tuition will be set at and how stable the funding sources are for that university," Poole said.

"The idea for a fixed tuition plan is that the university system is predicting ahead of time the amount of money it will cost to serve that student for those years and setting a price to serve that student."

The board's investigation would need to weigh the promise of stability for students against universities' budgetary needs, she said.

UNC sophomore Austin Mueller said he thinks grandfathering in students' tuition would yield broad benefits.

"It's beyond the students themselves, it’s for the student’s families — to give the families a sense of consistency, so they know they'll be paying the same rate ever year," Mueller said. 

"It would provide stability and allow the families themselves to plan better, which I think is very valuable and important, so they don't need to anticipate huge changes in those four years, and it outweighs those University concerns."

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