UNCW proposes a 2% increase

A 2-percent increase in tuition for all UNCW students has been approved by the UNCW Board of Trustees for the 2010-11 academic year.

If approved by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, tuition will increase by $52 for in-state undergraduate students; this will raise the cost to $2,617. Out-of-state undergraduate students will see their tuition increase by $269, making their tuition $13,716. In-state graduate students will see their tuition increase by $59, making it $3,008. Out-of-state graduate students will see their tuition rise $273, amounting to $13,936.

"We were very intentionally as low as possible [in amount of increase]," said Chancellor DePaolo. "We could have gone up to 6.5 percent. We chose 2 percent."

Out of the 16 schools in the UNC system, UNCW's tuition increase proposal to the BOG was the lowest. 7 of the universities proposed a 6.5 percent increase in tuition, which is the highest percentage the schools in the UNC system can ask for. Some of the schools that proposed the 6.5 percent increase were Appalachian State University, UNC-Greensboro and UNC-Asheville.

The average proposed increase was 5.2 percent. Tuition and fee requests for all of the schools in the UNC system will be presented to the BOG for final approval in February.

"We felt like in these economic times our goal is to keep it as low as possible, despite the fact that we don't get as much money as other schools. We desperately need the additional revenue, we just didn't want to increase it for our students any more than was absolutely necessary," DePaolo said.

UNCW plans to make $939,966 in funding through the increase. Half of the additional tuition revenue ($470,556) will be used to address financial aid needs of the students.

The remainder will go to various other places. One place that the revenue will go to is a position in the Registrar's Office which will help transfer students. The revenue will also create a coordinator position for the simulation laboratory in the School of Nursing building, a distance education librarian, and a library technician for the Watson School of Education's Curriculum Materials Center. The tuition money will also help establish three full-time faculty positions.

"There are a lot of needs [because of budget reductions] that we really could have asked for, but in balancing our needs with the rising cost with the student we decided to keep them to a bare minimum," said Charles Maimone, vice chancellor of Business Affairs.

A reduction in student fees was also approved by the Board of Trustees. The mandatory student fees will be reduced by $14.40. This was made possible through the end of the debt service on Trask Coliseum and the removal of a fee related to bank service charges for credit card usage.

Housing costs will increase by 2 percent as well. This revenue will go toward utilities for the housing facilities, insurance, resident assistant scholarships, and the renovation and refurbishment of facilities and furnishings.

The Tuition and Fee Review Committee identifies what they view as the most important needs of the campus and the student body. The committee contains representatives from Business Affairs, Student Affairs, Financial Aid, ITSD, the Chancellor's Office, Faculty and Director of Planning, and seven members from the student body. The committee's recommendations are then presented to the chancellor and other university administrators, who develop the final proposal that is presented to the BOT.

"We will try to protect the academic experience among students above anything else," DePaolo said.