The UNC Board of Governors voted to waive the standardized testing requirement for students applying for admission to UNC System schools through fall 2024.
Held at Wednesday's full board meeting, the vote was an extension of waivers passed in 2020 and 2021 temporarily removing the requirement that students submit an SAT or ACT score with their application.
The BOG also discussed changes to out-of-state undergraduate enrollment caps, funding approvals for capital projects — including for an innovation hub at UNC-Chapel Hill — and the opening of the Carolina Community Academy.
What’s new?
- The Board approved an update to the policy on out-of-state undergraduate enrollment caps. The update was discussed and accepted at the board’s February meeting, and will go into effect beginning in the fall 2022 semester.
- Historically, all UNC-System institutions have permitted a maximum of 18 percent of the student body to come from outside North Carolina. In 2021, that cap was raised to 25 percent for the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the system, beginning with the class entering in fall 2021.
- The April 2022 update increases the undergraduate enrollment caps again for some UNC-System HBCUs, as follows:
- The cap remains at 25 percent for Fayetteville State University and Winston‐Salem State University.
- The cap will increase to 35 percent for N.C. A&T and N.C. Central University.
- The cap will increase to 50 percent for Elizabeth City State University.
- For UNC-Chapel Hill and the remaining universities subject to this policy, the out-of-state enrollment cap remains at 18 percent.
- The policy update also requires a written report from a university’s chancellor if the average SAT and ACT scores for students paying out-of-state tuition are lower than students paying N.C. resident tuition.
- The Board also approved several capital projects, as well as funding for repairs, renovations, demolitions and new leases.
- This included the final approval to lease 136 E. Rosemary St. in Chapel Hill for a new innovation hub to house UNC-Chapel Hill’s Innovate Carolina office.
- The board approved a new funding model for requesting and allocating funds to institutions.
- In 2018, the model was changed to base funding allotment on completed student credit hours over the past two years, rather than projected student credit hour completion.
- The newly approved proposal also recommends that, where possible, changes in the amount of completed credit hours be differentiated by discipline, and that STEM and health professions' graduate education be funded at a higher rate than undergraduate education in the same fields.
- Performance weighting, based on the outcomes and progress toward the UNC System’s strategic initiatives, will also factor into funding.
- “I’d like to reiterate that our approach to this change is not static,” James L. Holmes, Jr., chairperson of the BOG Committee on Budget and Finance, said. “This committee will continually consider changes to the model and recommendations from this board and other concerned individuals, as we consider this to be a beginning not an end.”
- Chairperson of the BOG Subcommittee on Laboratory Schools C. Philip Byers said that the subcommittee approved the opening of the Carolina Community Academy — a partnership between UNC-Chapel Hill and the Person County School Board — in late March. The academy will be housed at North Elementary School in Person County, and will eventually serve kindergarten through second-grade students.
- The resolution for the new academy was presented to the North Carolina State Board of Education, who will vote to formally recognize it as a North Carolina public school, Byers said.
- If approved, the UNC System will have a total of nine laboratory schools, which are elementary and secondary schools operated in association with colleges or universities.
- “We commend UNC-Chapel Hill and Chancellor Guskiewicz, with Provost Clemens and the dean of the School of Education and his team for embarking on this journey and wish them all the best as they plan for the arrival of students in the fall,” Byers said.
- The resolution for the new academy was presented to the North Carolina State Board of Education, who will vote to formally recognize it as a North Carolina public school, Byers said.
Who is on the BOG?
- The UNC Board of Governors has 24 voting members and is led by UNC-System President Peter Hans.
- Members are elected by the N.C. General Assembly and serve for staggered four-year terms. The president of the UNC Association of Student Governments serves as a nonvoting, ex officio member.
What's next?
- The BOG's full board will next meet on May 26.
