UNC BOG finance committee looks into changes in funding and tuition

The UNC Board of Governors Committee on Budget and Finance discussed tuition and fees, a state-subsidized three-year plan, revitalized business strategies and funding reallocations for renovating Wilson Library during its meeting Wednesday morning. 

Here's the rundown: 

What’s new?

• The committee discussed potential changes in next year's tuition prices and continued conversations on the System’s tuition-freeze commitment. 
  • UNC System President Peter Hans recommended the Board grants a one-year extension to the six-year freeze on undergraduate tuition for North Carolina residents. 
    • “Tuition is the single most important signal we send about the value of college and who it is intended to serve,” Hans said.  "Fairly or not, the sticker price for a year of education at North Carolina's public universities sends a very powerful message about who is welcome on our campuses. 
  • As of now, in-state undergraduates are the only students who would be protected by the extended freeze.
  • The Board did not vote on any official decision but will continue discussions of change in the future. 
• Conversations continued about the new formula to aid in the enrollment funding process that was approved by the BOG this past spring. 
  • “The UNC System uses a formula based on completed student credit hours to request and allocate enrollment funding to institutions on an annual basis," item A-2 from the meeting's agenda stated. "The new formula, which was approved by the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina System in April, included a performance-based component that needs to be finalized prior to the 2023 legislative session."
  • This performance-based component is a three-year plan that will look at improvement in certain student credit hours to determine whether an institution will receive up to $60 million in funding from a state subsidy. 
  • Jennifer Haygood, the senior vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer for the UNC System, gave a presentation at the meeting explaining how the formula and components will work.
    • “There are a lot of really good arguments to make, and this is not a last step, it’s a first step in really moving towards being rewarded for exceptional outcomes, and I think there is a lot of support for that throughout this board and this state to do just that,” James L. Holmes Jr., chair of the committee on budget and finance, said. 
•  Mark Little and Alyse Polly of CREATE/NCGrowth gave a presentation on a plan to increase the UNC System's usage of N.C. historically underutilized businesses.
  • The Anchor Institutions Create Economic Resilience program was developed by CREATE and will be partnering with the UNC System office to accomplish the goals set. 
    • “For us, it’s incredibly exciting to think about what it would be like to work with the entire UNC System on a System-wide strategy for utilizing local and diverse suppliers," Polly said. "This sort of strategy could have an economically transformative impact on our beloved state. So it’s also really exciting for us to think about the UNC System becoming a leader in this incredibly important work.”
  • Little and Polly plan to submit a strategic plan to the committee by late winter focusing on the goals of the program and how to successfully use HUBs around the state. 
• In UNC-CH specific news, the committee discussed the reallocation of state funds toward Wilson Library. 
  • Funding toward replacing the library’s central HVAC system was already in place, but the University requested that an additional $5.8 million be moved from the budget for Swain Hall’s renovation, according to the Agenda.
  • Detectable levels of lead were found in four of Wilson Library’s drinking fountains as well as 14 sinks, according to the University.

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