NC State Discusses Tuition Increase
Thursday, Feb 07, 2008 - 06:15 PM
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Save This PageBy Laura Barron, NBC17
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- A college degree was once an uncertainty for North Carolina State's Student Senate President Greg Doucette.
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"I started at NC State in '98 and was there until until 2000 and I dropped out because I couldn't afford it" he said. "I spent five years working in the private sector until I could afford to come back."
That's why he's fighting to make sure the tuition hike of 6.5 percent -- originally recommended by the NC State Tuition Advisory Committee last year -- doesn't reappear even though Chancellor James Oblinger officially recommended a 2.7 percent increase.
Doucette and about a dozen other students showed up the UNC Board of Governors Tuition and Fees meeting Wednesday morning to make sure that lower tuition increase of 2.7 percent was agreed upon.
"I wanna make sure there are no other students that have to go through what I went through,” Doucette said.
UNC System President Erskine Bowles said he believes the tuition increase will remain at the recommended rate.
"I'm standing with the chancellor on this, and I'm confidant it will be less than three percent and I think it's wonderful for the students to come over here and express their concern but I would say, 'let not your heart be troubled,'” Bowles said.
Combined, the UNC System’s 16 schools will likely see an average 1.2 percent increase, which Bowles says is well below the inflation rate. He said the main factors behind the increase, are keeping faculty pay competitive and making sure need based aid is available.
In the 2007-08 school year there was an overall average tuition increase of 5.2 percent, and in 2006-07, there was a 12.1 percent increase.
Locally, North Carolina Central University will likely see a zero percent increase along with Fayetteville State and UNC Chapel Hill. East Carolina University will likely see a 0.6 percent increase and NC State a 2.7 percent increase. If the increases are approved, UNC Pembroke will see the highest increase, of 3 percent. Those figures do not include any fee increases, such as athletic fees.
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