Should the UNC lift its four-year old tuition cap? That’s the question UNC officials are hoping to decide by the end of the year.
When tuition fails to reflect an institution’s real costs, adjustments need to be made. The cap should be lifted not because we favor higher student costs, but because the cap creates an artificial economic system, which is unsustainable in the long run.
While tuition is a real cost to students, in my view, all the obsessing is misplaced. The real concern should be a net price. Net price is the real cost to students once student financial aid, scholarships and the like are factored in. Economic realities will probably lead to higher tuition costs. A better question for parents and students to ponder is: Are additional resources available from private or public sources to help students meet the additional costs?
Bob, in my view, the tuition cap was a good idea. It made tuition predictable and it supposedly prevented drastic increases in price. But it turned out to be meaningless! As the budget showed signs of possibly tightening, the chancellors grabbed the opportunity to increase tuition–way above the 6.5 per cap, on the order of 20 percent, mere weeks before school started. What kind of planning is that? And, frankly, they didn’t need it. The increase actually retarded the necessary process of cost-cutting.