Rapidly increasing demand and several years of budget cuts are the key factors in a proposal to raise UNC Charlotte tuition for the next two fiscal years.
The UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees, this past fall, approved a plan to raise tuition for resident undergraduates by 3 percent for FYs 2015-16 and 2016-17. The current in-state, full-time tuition/general fee rate is $6,179 for fall and spring (FY 2014-15).
If the UNC Board of Governors approves the University’s request at its Feb. 26-27 meeting, in-state, full-time undergraduate tuition for FY 2015-16 would increase by about $205 and $213 for FY 2016-17. The BOG sets tuition and general and debt fees at all UNC system campuses. Each institution also can assess BOG-approved special fees and miscellaneous service charges. A roughly 1 percent increase would be added to out-of-state, full-time tuition, too, and part-time rates are expected to go up.
UNC Charlotte will host the BOG’s February meeting on campus.
From fall 2009 to fall 2014, UNC Charlotte enrollment increased more than 10 percent, making the University the fastest-growing institution in the UNC system. Forty-eight percent of enrollment growth for the entire 17-campus UNC system occurred at UNC Charlotte from 2008-14. At the same time, legislative reductions in the University’s base budget and other designated areas exceeded $55.2 million.
According to the proposal, revenue from the requested tuition hikes will be used to address the need for faculty positions for instruction and research, to meet critical demand for administrative services, to satisfy required investments in regulatory compliance and to maintain a fair and market-competitive salary structure for faculty and staff.
The University has been able to increase credit hour production, offer more courses and schedule more sections by adding lower cost non-tenure track faculty and part-time instructors instead of tenure-track faculty who can make contributions across the University’s mission of teaching, research, public service and governance.
Another outcome of budget cuts was an increase in class sizes; for example, course sections enrolling 41 to 100 students have increased by 35 percent, not a positive trend for enhancing student performance and retention, leaders noted in the proposal.
“We are adding students with fewer resources, because the budgets as a whole are being cut in the state of North Carolina,” said Beth Hardin, vice chancellor for business affairs. “The most important thing we have done is to focus on retention and graduation. So, the University of North Carolina still represents a great bargain.”
Workloads in many administrative and business units have gone up significantly without additional personnel. In the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, there has been a 32 percent rise in the number of applications each processor must review. In the Financial Aid Office, personnel dealt with 23 percent more FAFSAs. Financial transactions processed are up 30 percent.
Additional administrative pressures have resulted from more compliance-related activities, such as Title IX investigations and enforcement, BOG-mandated policy changes and requirements from external entities, such as governmental agencies and accrediting bodies.
Finally, additional funding is needed for SPA market-rate adjustments for custodians and groundskeepers, information technology positions and law enforcement and other SPA and EPA salaries that have not kept pace with inflation or the Charlotte market. More money is needed to keep faculty at competitive salary levels, too.