Tuition bill a win for NC, but is it fundable?

Editorial by Asheville Citizen-Times, May 16, 2016.

Tom Apodaca’s ideas about making North Carolina’s state universities more affordable are worth exploring. There is, however, one big question.

Legislation filed by Apodaca, a Republican from Hendersonville who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, would allow state universities to offer a fixed-tuition plan whereby the cost would not rise for eight or 10 semesters. Such a system is in place in Illinois.

The bill also would reduce sharply tuition at five schools, including Western Carolina University. Those five could charge only $500 per semester for in-state students and $2,500 for out-of-state students.

Starting in fall 2018, student fees at all schools would be reduced by 10 percent to 25 percent and they subsequently could be raised by no more than 3 percent per year. The fees – used for athletics, student activities, healthcare, campus security, technology and new buildings – range between $1,500 and $2,400 per student per year.

Three of the five schools subject to tuition caps – Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State – are historically African-American institutions. Apodaca also wants to create up to 100 free-ride scholarships each year for North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central, two other historically African-American schools.

The bill cites some sobering statistics. “The total cost of undergraduate tuition and fees for in-state students in the University of North Carolina system has increased by 72 percent in the last 10 years … the average debt of North Carolina students who graduate with debt from a public four-year institution is $23,440, up 52 percent since 2007-2008.

“While the median earnings for those in North Carolina with a bachelor’s degree is approximately $40,000, many college graduates still find they must use funds for the repayment of high-cost educational debt that ordinarily could be set aside for family and home expenses and achieving a higher quality of life.”

In a statement put out by Senate leader Phil Berger’s office, Apodaca cited these impacts. “That’s why we are committed to making college more accessible and affordable, strengthening our universities to make them more competitive and encouraging our students to complete their degrees in four years,” Apodaca said.

OK. But how can universities saddled with rising costs and lagging state revenue absorb these cuts? The university system is getting $100 million less in state funding than before the Great Recession. The bill appropriates $3.2 million for the scholarships but is otherwise silent on funding.

Change.org cites the impact of the plan on traditionally African-American schools. “While this may sound like a great idea at first glance, a university simply cannot function on a tuition this inadequate,” said a petition to Apodaca from the group.

“Instead of trying to take away from these universities that already get a lower funding, and minimum support from the state, we should be offering more, especially when one of these universities (Winston-Salem State) is extremely high ranking in health sciences.”

One curious provision in the Apodaca bill has nothing to do with college costs. It instructs the university system’s Board of Governors to review all public universities with an eye toward making some name changes. At first glance, this sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

University communities do not take kindly to changes in their tradition for no discernible reason. A proposal floated by Republican leaders in February outraged the chancellor of Fayetteville State, one of four schools that might have had to change their names. The Apodaca bill does not specify any specific schools.

The concept of the Apodaca bill is good, but we keep thinking of a famous line from the film “Jerry Maguire.”

Show me the money.