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UNC board approves fee increase |
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Thursday, 15 February 2007 |
 | Lovins
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by LAUREN LAWSON
News Reporter
The University of North Carolina Board of Governors approved Appalachian State University’s campus proposal Feb. 9 to increase fees by about 5.9 percent.
There will be no tuition increase for the 2007-08 school year, as the 5.9 percent increase strictly pertains to fees.
“The Board of Governors set a ceiling in October after the last
increase that referred to resident tuition and general fees at 6.5
percent,” Greg M. Lovins, vice chancellor for Business Affairs, said.
“The ceiling did not apply to debt service fees, which pay for
construction and buildings that are self-supporting, like Appalachian’s
Student Recreation Center,” Lovins said.
He said this is the reason that other UNC-system school fees and tuitions have been increased by more than 6.5 percent.
“North Carolina State University was increased by about 6.9 percent
[for the 2007-08 school year], but when you take off the debt service
fees, they remain below the cut-off at 6.4 percent,” Lovins said.
Some say the 6.5 percent cap was deceptive.
“This cap on fee increases can be misleading, especially for schools
with high growth and Appalachian is one of the schools with a high debt
service fee,” Forrest S. Gilliam, Student Government Association
president and junior political science major, said.
During Monday night’s faculty senate meeting, Provost Dr. Stanley R.
Aeschleman mentioned UNC President Erskine Bowles’ concerns at the last
faculty assembly meeting.
Bowles was worried that Appalachian’s increase was for fees, not
tuition, and therefore was not going toward need-based financial aid or
faculty salaries, Aeschleman said.
“Bowles would probably just prefer that all campuses include a tuition
increase component,” Dr. Tim H. Burwell, associate vice chancellor for
Academic Affairs, said.
Lovins said the fee increase would be broken down into parts such as athletics, educational technology and recreational fees.
Discussing fees at Appalachian has always been tricky.
“It’s hard, especially when Appalachian does not receive really any
money from the state for housing, and when students ask for something
nicer to be built, we will all have to pay for it eventually,” Gilliam
said.
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