(The Center Square) – Flat tuition for two more years, making a full decade of no increases, is being requested by UNC System President Peter Hans.
He made his plea during the regular meeting of is the system’s Board of Governors. He cited “falling confidence in colleges and universities” as the reason.
Hans on Thursday recommended the system keep its current in-state tuition for undergraduates unchanged for an eighth straight year, and to maintain that level for a full decade, because “continuing to hold the line on tuition sends an unmistakable signal to students and families … that our public universities are open and available to all.”
“In real dollars, that means tuition at our public universities is lower today and will be lower next year than it was at the end of the Obama administration,” he said. “At our four NC Promise schools, it’s dramatically lower today than it was eight years ago.
“There’s not a single other state in the country that can claim a similar achievement, not one.”
The NC Promise program sets tuition at $500 per semester at Elizabeth City State University, Western Carolina University, UNC Pembroke and Fayetteville State University. Tuition for resident undergraduates at the system’s 14 other campuses ranges from $3,401 a year at Winston-Salem State University to $7,019 at UNC Chapel Hill.
The NC Promise program was created by the General Assembly in 2016 in an effort “to make the university experience affordable and accessible to all,” according to the system website.
Hans said resisting increases in tuition has had a positive impact on student borrowing at a time “there’s a lot of concern nationwide about falling confidence in colleges and universities.
“It’s been well-documented in survey after survey that Americans are more skeptical about the value of a college degree, and that uncertainty is affecting the decisions families make,” he said.
Hans’ comments come as lawmakers in the General Assembly consider a system budget request for $16.8 million to incentivize faculty retirements. That follows enrollment declines in three-quarters of the system’s 16 universities last year.
The retirement incentives would be targeted at five system schools that have faced the biggest struggles with enrollment in recent years: East Carolina University, Winston-Salem State University, UNC Greensboro, UNC Asheville, and North Carolina Central.
Overall enrollment at UNC System schools last year declined for the first time since 2013 to 239,663, but preliminary figures from nine schools are showing positive trends for 2023.
Enrollment figures from at least five schools are up 3% or more from last year, including Appalachian State University, North Carolina A&T, Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina Central, and Fayetteville State.
At UNC Greensboro, enrollment of 17,743 came in 235 students below last year’s numbers, though the number of first-time college students increased 11.5%, and in-state first-year students increased 12.5%.
UNC Asheville enrollment, which fell by 10% last year and 25% since 2015, was just seven students less than 2022 at 2,907, which includes the largest incoming class of first-time students in four years. The 24% year-to-year increase in new first-time students came from a record number of applications, which jumped 28% from 2022 and 37% from the recent three-year average.
