State shifting more higher ed costs to students

The News & Observer
April 3, 2011
BY ERIC FERRERI AND JAY PRICE - Staff Writers
 
North Carolina's constitution demands an affordable public university, a core principle that for two centuries has helped poor young people from the Coastal Plains, small mill towns and mountain hollows grab the bottom rung of the economic ladder and start climbing.

But in recent years, as the student share of the cost keeps rising and taxpayers' contribution gradually decreases, the state has quietly, steadily drifted toward a different funding model for higher education....  In 1990, the state provided 81 percent of the money used to teach undergraduate students in the UNC system, according to system data. By last year, that share had fallen to 63.8 percent.  Meanwhile, tuition has risen steadily - up about 175 percent since 2000. At N.C. State University, for example, in-state undergrads paid $1,861 in tuition in 2000-2001; this year, they're paying $5,153.  Click here to read more.