Legislature must find money to keep UNC-system tuition reasonable

Winston-Salem Journal
Editorial
January 25, 2012

It's time for the General Assembly to obey the state constitution regarding the university system.  Students and their parents face an untenable situation today. Education costs are accelerating twice as fast as general inflation. Family incomes are stagnant. Student earnings can't keep pace, and the college graduate's likely income is uncertain, given the lousy economy.

Add to this dreadful situation recent calls for double-digit tuition and fee increases — some as high at 15.6 percent — and it is hard to see how most North Carolinians can educate their children....  We recognize concerns that led university leaders to propose outrageous increases — the drastic state cuts to university funding over the past four years, especially last year, are truly harming our students and our economy.

The state constitution is not vague about the legislature's responsibility in this regard. It says that the legislature must maintain a university that is as close to being free of charge "as is practicable." Sustained tuition and fee increases that are more than twice the rate of general inflation do not meet that constitutional mandate.

This spring, the General Assembly must first cancel $10 million in additional UNC cuts scheduled for next academic year, then make no additional cuts, and then find new money to restore core university functions it cut last year.  Students and their families are paying enough right now. UNC has done its job in cutting expenses. Now it's time for the legislature to do its part and find new money.  Click here to read more.