Tuition Raised State Wide 
BOG anticipates ASU to petition increase next year 
John T. Bennett Administration Beat 
 

A controversial issue that has been simmering for five months boiled over Friday as the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted to increase tuition statewide. 

Tuition at all 16 of North Carolina’s public universities will increase by 2.1 percent, causing tuition to rise $16-$32 per student, varying from institution to institution. 

The two universities hardest hit by the vote were the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. 

Both research institutions will undergo a tuition increase of $600 over the next two years.  The first of two $300 installments will go into effect this fall. 

The BOG had considered a proposal that would have increased tuition at both UNC-CH and N.C. State by only $200, but after close scrutiny, the board opted to implement the higher increase at both universities instead. 

Jim Phillips, a BOG member, attempted to silence critics of the board’s decision who feel the $600 hike at UNC-CH and N.C. State will make attending either of the schools too expensive for some students.  He compared the post-increase price tag at both N.C. research universities to two other area upper-echelon institutions, the University of South Carolina and the University of Virginia, where tuition and fees total $3,500, and $5,000, respectively. 

“Even after the full increase at Chapel Hill and N.C. State, it (tuition and fees) would only cost $2,900,” said Phillips. 

Along with the increase at UNC-CH and N.C. State, the BOG approved tuition increase requests from three other UNC systems universities: East Carolina University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. 

Phillips added that the need to grant the requests for higher student tuition at the five institutions was magnified by the state legislature’s lack of available funds to devote to North Carolina’s public universities. 

The North Carolina General Assembly’s funds are nearly drained following the $836 million Hurricane Floyd relief package passed in December and tax cuts over the last year equaling nearly $1 billion. 

Students at East Carolina and UNC Charlotte will see their tuition rise $150 each of the next two years, while UNC Wilmington students can expect a $235 increase for in-state students and a $400 hike for out-of-state students over the next two years. 

BOG member John Sanders was against granting increases to ECU, UNCC and UNCW because he felt their proposals contradicted the policy of the board which says universities can only ask for increases in exceptional situations. 

Sanders added that approving the increase to the three universities, “treated unfairly the 11 institutions that did not think that buying computers for the faculty or paying for faculty/staff parking passes were exceptional situations.” 

The BOG made their decision Friday amidst a silent student protest led by UNC-CH senior Jeff Neiman, a non-voting student member of the Board of Governors. A force of 100 students from eight of the system’s 16 campuses was mobilized to fight the silent battle. 

Neiman felt the strong showing by the students helped his amendment, which he said was, “a more modest and much more reasonable plan (than the one approved).” 

Though it was eventually defeated 17-11, Neiman called the vote a moral victory of sorts, given the fact he was only expecting to receive a handful of votes. 

In regards to the increases at ECU, UNCC and UNCW, Nieman said, “It creates a dangerous precedent because you have schools of the same classification, like Appalachian and UNCW, with different tuition rates.” 

Nieman was not the only student leader present at the vote to voice his displeasure with the increases. ECU Student Body President Cliff Webster said students at the flood-ravaged Greenville, N.C., university “have been through enough this year.” 

Webster added that for the members of the board to approve the tuition increase for ECU was “heartless” considering that the student body was still trying to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd. 

The BOG tuition increase plan will now move onto the docket of the North Carolina General Assembly, awaiting formal legislative approval. 

Due to election-year politics, Webster called the tuition increases “a done deal.” 

Given the board’s approval of the ECU, UNCC and UNCW tuition increase requests, the general consensus among BOG members is that a list of the 11 universities who did not petition the board for increases will do so next year. At the top of that list is Appalachian State University. 

Tuition hiked 2.1% 
John T. Bennett Administration Beat 

Effective next fall, Appalachian State University students will be forced to pay more tuition after the University of North Carolina system Board of Governors approved a system-wide 2.1 percent tuition increase on Friday. 

Board of Governors member John Sanders said the system-wide hike is based on the rise of North Carolina’s standard of living. 

“If everyone’s income is up a little more, then they can afford to pay a little more,” said Sanders. 

Though tuition will increase next year, ASU students dodged a potentially costly bullet Thursday. The Board of Governors Budget and Finance Committee decided to delay debate on UNC System President Molly Broad’s proposal of a system-wide $275 capital tuition hike which would have spanned the next three years. 

Along with the approved 2.1 percent hike, the capital construction fee increase would have raised tuition for Appalachian State students by an additional $100 each of the next two years and $75 the third year. 

Had the BOG approved the $275 increase, those student fees would have gone to finance bond payments to support the construction of new academic buildings on ASU’s  campus. 

BOG member Jim Phillips said he hopes that no student at ASU or any other North Carolina public university will have to be concerned with paying higher tuition for the specific aim of financing construction of new academic buildings. 

“The view that student tuition should not be used to build buildings is the right view,” said Phillips, “that has always been the job of the legislature.” 

Time will tell what becomes of the capital construction issue, but students at ASU will still be forced to deal with a small increase in their tuition beginning next fall. 

Along with the 2.1 percent undergraduate increase, graduate students will see their tuition rise by 5 percent. 

Undergraduate tuition for an in-state student who is currently enrolled in 15 semester hours will increase by just over $20 next year. 

Despite escaping Friday’s meeting only facing the systemwide 2.1 percent increase, Appalachian State University students may not be out of the line of fire quite yet. “If Appalachian and some of the others had known the board was going to be as general, (in granting tuition increase requests by UNC Charlotte, UNC Wilmington and East Carolina University) as it turned out to be, they probably would have asked for increases as well,” said Sanders. 

Sanders also offered a forewarning to ASU students, predicting the board will likely hear a tuition increase request from Appalachian State officials when the Board of Governors meets in the fall. 

Appalachian State University Chancellor Francis T. Borkowski offered a slightly different indication of what may lie ahead in Saturday’s edition of The News and Observer, saying, “probably next year, we will come forward with a request for a sizable increase.” 

Service learning projcts abound at ASU 
Zaneta Wood Student Organizations Beat 

Opportunity abounds for students or faculty that wish to mix community service and classwork. 

“Service-Learning is linked with an academic course and incorporates specific goals for community service, including structured reflection activities within the classroom,”  said Appalachian and the Community Together (ACT) Service-Learning coordinator Shari Galiardi.  

“Service-Learning naturally combines the life of the mind with habits of the heart.”  

Currently, six courses incorporate such community service projects in the Recreational Management Program. 

RM 2120, Leadership and Group Dynamics, taught by Annette Bednosky, requires students to engage in 20 hours of volunteer work in leadership capacity in the agency of their choice.  

“Numerous social service and youth serving agencies have enjoyed the benefit of these volunteer efforts,” said Dr. Paul L. Gaskill, a professor in the Recreational Management Program. 

RM 2410, Recreation Program Planning, taught by Dr. Kim Siegenthaler, director of the Recreation Management Program, allows students to plan and implement recreation programs for a variety of community groups and agencies ranging from school groups to youth service programs. Students taking the course plan and program 15 to 20 such programs and activities each fall and spring semester. 

RM 3110, Development and Maintenance of Recreation Facilities, instructed by Dr. Kevin Riley, asks students to participate in hiking trail maintenance and clean-up regularly.  

Camp Management, RM 3140, taught by Dr. Don Wood, allows students to plan an overnight camping experience for students at both Cove Creek and Parkway Schools, and the Interpretive Methods class has recently created a “Box in the Attic” program with the Cove Creek School.  This unique program lets children explore a specific historical figure or topic using a set of guided experimental learning exercises found in the “box.” This program has recently been funded by the Blue Ridge Electric Membership Cooperative through their Bright Ideas grant program. 

RM 3210, Special Recreation, taught by Mrs. Mary Williams, requires students to engage in 20 hours of service with disabled persons or at-risk youth. 

Recreation Resource Management in Alaska, RM 3530, will be taught by Dr. Wayne Williams this summer in Alaska. Rich Campbell of Outdoor Programs will be joining Dr. Williams and 18 students to do constructional maintenance for the National Park Service and Denali National Park in Alaska. The course will run for three weeks during the second summer session.  

Project Recreation, led by the Recreation Management Association, serves the independent recreation needs of area youth and developmentally-disabled adults each semester.  

This student-led volunteer program, in cooperation with Watauga Opportunities and Watauga High School, pairs ASU students with individuals in the community that seek to engage in recreational activities.  

The recreation student-coach teaches to the individual, then slowly withdraws themselves from the program.  This “phasing-out” allows that person to develop independent recreation skills. 

The Recreational Management Program in the Department of Health, Leisure and Exercise Sciences incorporates community service activities in offered courses each semester. 

The Recreation Management Association also leads adopt-a-highway, ASU into the Streets and Watauga County Public Schools programs. The RMA has raised funds to support the academic accreditation of the Recreation Management Program, and contributes funds to Belk Library. 

 “I like the fact that community service is implemented into our curriculum because it gives the students a chance to better themselves, learn from their experiences and give back to the community,” said Erin Skinner, Departmental Assistant for the Recreation Management Program. 

Return To Top