<< Back 5/15/02 Continued tuition hikes could create hardships for low-income families SMN Keeping tuition costs down at North Carolina’s public universities doesn’t seem to be so important anymore. If the trend of tuition increases continues, college graduates will be saddled with increasingly larger debts and low-income families could be priced out of the education market. The UNC Board of Governors this spring approved an 8-percent tuition hike for in-state students. That followed a 9-percent hike last year, bringing the increase since 1990 to 134 percent. That’s four times the rate of inflation. The most recent hike, which still must be approved by the General Assembly, also provides local campuses with the opportunity to raise their tuition prices by a few hundred dollars and keep the money. The increases since 1990 are significant, but most people will still say a college education at one of the schools in the University of North Carolina system is a bargain. And for most of us, they’d be right. But two recent studies pointed out that for those in the lowest 20 percent of the income brackets, a college education can take up to 25 percent of their income. For those families — the students who can benefit the most from a college education — the increases are not so modest and not so manageable. Sure, financial aid is available. But the well is not bottomless. As prices rise the applicant pool extends up the economic ladder. Middle-class families who previously could afford tuition will come asking for money, and their needs will be hard to deny. There isn’t a culprit here to hammer. The recent state tuition hikes have allowed the system to accommodate an influx of students. Two years ago the UNC system brought in an additional 5,400 students. Last year it was 7,000 new students. Making a university education accessible to the masses is absolutely necessary, and the UNC system has refused to cap admissions. Tradition, though, is worth considering. In this state, the legislature historically has refrained from tying tuition hikes to an influx of students. The line of thinking is that tuition should not be raised and therefore borne by those who can least afford it. Instead, tax hikes of some type have been levied, therefore taking money from those who can afford it to keep the universities affordable for all. As predictions of the current budget shortfall have magnified, though, it has become much easier for the board of governors to see the writing on the wall — there won’t be any funding increases this year, and in fact budget “reversions” have become all-too-common. If more money is needed, the university system and its individual schools are going to have to take care of it themselves. Parents and students often remind lawmakers of the wording in the state constitution, that line that says tuition for the UNC system should “as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.” The current budget shortfall will force lawmakers to make some tough decisions, but a college education must remain affordable. North Carolina’s tradition is a good one, and the ideal should not be forsaken as we claw our way out of this current crisis.