Reform Majority Has Kept NC’s World-Class University System Accessible to All
In-state tuition at UNC System schools hasn’t increased in six years. “There is not another public university system in the country that can say that,” according to UNC System President Peter Hans.
And even lower tuition – just $500 per semester – at three system schools has been “a booster rocket” for their enrollment figures.
These remarkable achievements do not come about by accident. UNC System administrators deserve credit for prudent fiscal management and prioritizing affordability.
The Reform Majority in the legislature, though, deserves credit, too. We’re fond of pointing out that, according to the perpetual malcontents, everything bad that happens at the UNC System is because of the legislature, while everything good that happens at the UNC System is in spite of the legislature.
But here are the facts.
Despite tremendous political pressure to drop their N.C. Promise plan in 2016, the Reform Majority held strong and saw it through, trusting in the policy. As part of N.C. Promise, they proposed to drop in-state tuition at several UNC System schools to $500 per semester, establish a new scholarship for N.C. Central and N.C. A&T students, and guarantee no tuition hikes for a standard undergraduate college term.
For that, the reformers were called racists and bigots. Rev. William Barber (the former head of the N.C. NAACP who is now under a cloud of suspicion) said the Reform Majority’s plan “attacks people of color directly.”
But the legislators pressed on – and the results speak for themselves. Three schools were part of the original N.C. Promise initiative: Elizabeth City State University, UNC-Pembroke, and Western Carolina University. Here are their enrollment figures from 2017, when the plan began, and 2021:
The program is so successful that another school, Fayetteville State University, joined just this year.
In the rest of the UNC System, affordability has remained a top priority, with no tuition increases for six years running. The Reform Majority has enacted a number of policies in recent years to contain costs, including a fixed tuition payment schedule and a cap on student fees. They’ve properly funded the university system so administrators don’t need to hike tuition to cover costs, and they’re investing in the future through programs like Project Kitty Hawk.
North Carolina’s world-class public university system is often cited by major companies as a reason they choose to locate or expand here. By creating an environment for the UNC System to keep prices down, the Reform Majority has kept UNC System schools accessible to the vast majority of North Carolina students.
Remember these facts next time the perpetual malcontents find something else to complain about.