Campus 'cap' needs better explanation

Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, September 15, 2013.

Here are some important things to bear in mind as the UNC System and the rest of us take a few months to think through a proposal to raise the cap on out-of-state students from 18 percent to 30 percent at selected campuses.

If it's a bad idea, we shouldn't commit to a five-year pilot program.

Denials notwithstanding, it is about money. There are companion arguments, mostly about boosting nonresident enrollment (which pays better) in schools where enrollment is flat or falling. But if it weren't for the money, we wouldn't be having the discussion.

The burden of proof is on supporters. True, they cobble together bits of cheery speculation and share a vision of cascading benefits: This will happen because that will have happened, and then - spare us. The burden is still on the proponents.

Whether it is, in the abstract, a good idea or a bad one, it puts a strain on the state constitution's mandate that a university education be provided to every North Carolinian who wants one, as nearly free of charge as practicable. That earns it every bit of the scrutiny that is coming its way.

This proposal, limited to the six campuses that have historically served African-Americans and American Indians, should have come with a strong assurance that it won't be used, a few budget cycles hence, as a device to apply the 30 percent standard permanently and systemwide.

Whatever revenue the idea yields - as a six-campus, five-year experiment or as a 17-campus policy with no expiration date - will go into the general fund. How much of that revenue will be plowed back into which campuses? So far, total silence on that one.

The choice of schools is puzzling, not so much in a racial sense as in an administrative one. North Carolina A&T's chancellor, for instance, sees several likely advantages for his school. But enrollment at Fayetteville State University is neither flat nor falling, and UNC-Pembroke's provost says its focus is on serving the region that supplies the great majority of its students. Neither campus is anywhere near the 18 percent cap on out-of-state students. What is raising the cap to 30 percent supposed to do for them?

The answers probably lie in a thicket of legitimate concerns, personal perceptions (one member of the Board of Governors consistently and vaguely refers to the six campuses as "nonperforming"), and the supposed virtues of campus mergers.

We can discuss any and all of it. But let's begin with "Why do it?"