UNC to raise tuition on in-state undergrads for first time since 2017

CHAPEL HILL – Students from North Carolina that attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could pay higher tuition for the first time in nearly a decade.

The university’s board of trustees approved a 3% tuition increase Thursday, one day after a board committee shot down the idea and asked instead for an increase on out-of-state graduate students.

Tuition for in-state undergraduates has been flat since the fall of 2017 at UNC System schools, including UNC and NC State. The Board of Governors, which oversees the system, gave universities the authority to consider a tuition increase of up to 3% for in-state undergraduates.

The 3% increase amounts to a $211 increase at UNC. It is expected to generate $800,000 in the first year. Current in-state undergraduates won’t be impacted by the change. Tuition has been $7,019 per year since the fall of 2017.

“We need more revenue and we need it from multiple resources,” said Chancellor Lee Roberts, who supported the move and cited uncertainty over federal and state funding.

The board also approved increases for fees (3%), housing (7%) and meal plans (an average of 3.9%), as well as out-of-state undergraduates (10%) and several graduate programs.

Opponents of the increase on in-state undergraduates said the university had additional ways to generate additional revenue and said the state constitution calls on keeping in-state tuition as low as possible. 

Trustee Jim Blaine said the $800,000 was “a miniscule” amount in the university’s multi-billion budget and could be easily found through cuts.

"This is the easy button," Blaine said of the in-state tuition increase. "This is the lazy button."

Trustee Marty Kotis said that the Trump administration has encouraged universities to keep tuition down and that there is a greater value in UNC not raising its tuition at a time when other schools in the system are likely to increase tuition.

"The purpose of a board is to have a range of views," Roberts said. "If everybody agreed on everything all the time, you wouldn't need a board. I think what you saw was a really robust, fair discussion about the importance of affordability. As I said, we all share the virtue of affordability here, for the UNC System and for Carolina in particular. It's something we pride ourselves on."

Watch: UNC approves tuition hike, NC State recommending one: How to cut costs to attend college

In September, UNC was ranked as the No. 1 best value public university for the 21st straight year by U.S. News & World Report.

Roberts said he expects all UNC System schools to approve a 3% tuition increase for in-state students.

UNC students tell WRAL they're not happy to hear of the increases, especially for in-state students. 

"To hear that it's going to affect in-state students is really unfortunate and really disappointing," Junior Courtney Humphrey said. "So many students already view finances as a barrier to access college."

She acknowledged students' accessibility to scholarships. She said both in-state and out-of-state students contribute to North Carolina's economy, calling them the "backbone" of the state.

"A lot of people are still going to be hurt by that and don't have the means to take out loans or have their parents pay for tuition," Humphrey said. "It's really disappointing that more students will struggle to attend public universities that are really good in North Carolina. [If] they don't have the funds to do so, then they'll never get the chance."

Sophomore Christina Pak is from Virginia. She said the hikes are "not ideal."

"The discrepancy between in-state and out-of-state students is really large. Increasing the gap between that is not where we should be going," she said. 

A  NC State board of trustees committee approved Thursday a 3% tuition increase for in-state and out-of-state undergrads and graduate students.

The tuition decisions come as state lawmakers have signaled they plan to cut higher education funding. Republican lawmakers in the state House and Senate voted earlier this year on dueling budget proposals to hike tuition and force spending cuts at nearly every UNC System university. Those plans are on hold as the legislature has failed to pass a new state budget.

The Chapel Hill campus announced a $70-million cost-cutting plan in July.

While the campus has held undergraduate tuition steady for in-state residents, the university has been aggressively raising tuition for out-of-state undergraduate students. Tuition for those students was $26,575 in 2012-13 and is now $43,152, but demand in the form of applications continues to rise. Under the plan approved, out-of-state tuition for out-of-state undergrads would go up by an additional $4,320 in the fall of 2026.

"We believe we have a responsibility to North Carolina taxpayers to charge market rates for a Carolina education, and that's what we'll continue to do," Roberts said. "We'll look at the peer data and make sure that we're keeping pace with our peers for out-of-state student tuition."