As you may have heard, tuition is going up in 2010-11 for public university students.

At UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State, rates will rise $750, while at N.C. Central University, tuition goes up $435. These increases are on top of smaller cuts approved in February that vary by campus but are as much as $200 for UNC-CH students and $150 for NCSU students. That means students on the Chapel Hill campus will pay $950 more in the fall, and NCSU students will pay $900 more.

Across the system, the average increase is $444, according to a statement released this morning by UNC President Erskine Bowles' office.

Here's the text of the statement:

After consultation with the chancellors and UNC Board of Governors, UNC President Erskine Bowles today approved campus requests for supplemental tuition increases for the 2010-11 academic year. These supplemental increases—authorized by a special provision in the 2010-11 state budget and averaging $444 per year—will be used to help offset the impact of state budget cuts and protect academic quality.

These increases are in addition to tuition and fee changes for 2010-11 previously approved by the UNC Board of Governors. As a result, in-state undergraduates will see an average 15.5% increase in tuition and required fees for the coming year. On every UNC campus, at least half of the revenues from the initial tuition increase and 20% of revenues from the supplemental increase will be targeted to need-based financial aid. [Summaries of tuition and fee changes for all UNC campuses (also attached) have been posted on the University of North Carolina website at www.northcarolina.edu.]

Even as the University has absorbed budget cuts totaling $575 million over the past three years, UNC campuses have attempted to sustain academic quality and to keep tuition as low as practicable. On every UNC campus, tuition and fee rates for North Carolinians are either the lowest or next to the lowest among public peer institutions.

Over the past three years, tuition for in-state undergraduates has increased, on average, by 5.2%, 1.2%, and 2.8%, respectively. These increases were very low when compared to any other university system in the nation. Even with the increases approved today, tuition and fees on every UNC campus will remain in the bottom quarter of its public peers.

In an effort to shield academic instruction from the impact of repeated budget cuts, the University cut administrative expenses last year by 23%, abolished nearly 900 administrative positions, froze salaries, and redoubled efforts to raise external funds. UNC campuses now face another $142 million in cuts to their operating budgets and have largely exhausted their ability to absorb additional administrative cuts.

(Photo courtesy of thinkplaninvest.com)

To help the University protect the quality of a UNC education, the 2010 NC General Assembly authorized each UNC campus—subject to the President’s approval—to implement a supplemental tuition increase of up to $750 to help offset the impact of state budget cuts. Supplemental increases approved today range from $250 to $750; five UNC campuses have opted to phase in the increase over two years. All revenues generated must be used to protect academic quality and provide need-based financial aid.
 

N.C. Central University has concluded its year-long series of centennial observances and now looks to the future.

The centennial ended Thursday on a scorching afternoon of pageantry along Fayetteville Street, which was shut down for a couple hours so alums could celebrate.

The party drew hundreds on an obscenely hot day. They ate cake, listened to the usual complimentary plaudits from Gov. Beverly Perdue and other dignitaries, and cheered the dedications of a new garden and some other notable historic sites.

But the centennial has been about a lot more than just pageantry. Under the leadership of Chancellor Charlie Nelms, the university presented on a year of substantive academic events tied to the centennial.

Here's more.

A year of observances linked to N.C. Central University's 100th birthday come to a close this afternoon.

The university is throwing itself a birthday bash that starts at 3 p.m. and will include some words from dignitaries like Gov. Beverly Perdue.

Festivities today are on the Brant Street Plaza just off of Fayetteville Street. Among the highlights: the dedication of a new Centennial Garden and the re-christening of the old Holy Cross Catholic Church, relocated earlier this year from its original spot along Alston Avenue.

It will now be known as the Centennial Chapel.

Events today begin with the ringing of the NCCU Bell. A representative of the U.S. Postal Service will unveil the new NCCU Centennial Cancellation stamp.

And perhaps most importantly, there will be cake.

So come on out.

At N.C. Central University, the dean of the business school is lobbying for a new facility.

Whether he gets it is another matter, but Bijoy Sahoo, the dean, seems to make a compelling point when he points out that the current facility, the Willis Commerce Building along Fayetteville Street, was built in 1956.

And as he pointed out to trustees earlier this week, it was built to serve two purposes. One, academics. Two: as a bomb shelter.

"A new facility is a need; it is not a must," Sahoo told trustees. "We try to keep up. Keep it clean, keep it presentable. But we can only go so far."

The classrooms, Sahoo added, are obsolete.

There does not appear to be an immediate plan for a new business facility. But hey, it doesn't hurt to ask!

N.C. Central University has gotten a big boost in its attempt to raise money for a trip to next year's Rose Bowl parade.

The NCCU marching band is trying to raise $500,000 for the trip to Pasadena, where they'll march in the Tournament of Roses parade New Year's Day.

The latest big splash: a donation from Walmart valued at $100,000, the largest gift to the effort.

(Photo courtesy NCCU)

The retail giant's transportation services division has offered to transport the band's instruments, equipment, luggage and uniforms to California. This is a big deal considering that about 250 band members are expected to make the trip.

On Christmas morning, Walmart will send two 18-wheelers to campus. The equipment will be loaded and driven west to California. After the parade, the equipment will be driven back.

"This gift is saving the university thousands in transportation costs," said LaTanya Afolayan, vice chancellor of institutional advancement.

Credit for the Walmart gift goes in part to James Dockery, an NCCU alum and member of the NCCU Foundation board. He used to work for Walmart, according to a university news release.

The Marching Sound Machine was one of 16 bands selected to perform at the parade. If you'd like more information, click here.
 

Greg Doucette knows better than most just how tough it can be to pay your way through college.

Doucette, an N.C. State grad and current N.C. Central University law student, recently stepped down as the president of the Association of Student Governments, the group of student leaders from across the UNC system.

In that role, Doucette served on the UNC system's Board of Governors, where he routinely put a face to the budget-cut issue by telling his own story about struggling with tuition payments while at NCSU. He dropped out for a while, putting his college career on hold for several years.

Now, he writes of budget cuts to the UNC system proposed by both the state House and Senate. The Senate spending plan, while generally easier on the university system, still proposes a $50 million cut and would increase tuition $750.

And the House budget calls for a far larger cut. UNC President Erskine Bowles says it would result in the elimination of 1,700 jobs across the public university system.

In a letter submitted to the News & Observer, Doucette lays out his concerns.

Here it is:

It was during North Carolina's previous recession, roughly a decade ago, when the General Assembly last considered such deep cuts to our state's public universities comparable to those now proposed by the House. Unsurprisingly, those cuts led to dramatic increases in tuition rates (similar to the $750+ per student increase now proposed by the Senate) to make up for the losses in revenue.

With warm regards,
T. Greg Doucette

The writer is a student at the N.C. Central University School of Law, and President Emeritus of the UNC Association of Student Governments.

From the weekend: Coverage of N.C. Central University's two-day symposium last week that analyzed the future of the country's black colleges and universities.

Some interesting stuff, including Penn researcher Marybeth Gasman's challenge to HBCUs to step up private fundraising efforts.

Though being more aggressive is a big part of it, Gasman argued that these institutions have historically put far too little infrastructure in place. Invest more heavily, she urged them, in fundraising technology - databases and computer programs that help identify, sort and catalog wealthy alums. It may pay off.

Here's the story.

Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, will give the keynote address later this week at a symposium on historically black colleges and universities.

The symposium is hosted by N.C. Central University as part of the institution's centennial celebration. It is intended as an intellectual exercise, an opportunity for the university to inject some academic rigor into a year-long series of celebratory events.

The symposium, titled "Setting the Agenda for Historically Black Colleges and Universities," runs Thursday and Friday at the Sheraton Imperial. Duncan speaks at around 9 a.m. Thursday.

The symposium will feature a handful of the heavy hitters of higher education academia, several of whom will present position papers for public consumption and debate.

The proposed budget for higher education released this week by the state House would end state financing for a project run by N.C. Central University that is currently under investigation by state auditors.

About $527,000 for the Historically Minority Colleges and Universities Consortium, administered by NCCU, would be shifted to a dropout prevention initiative within the state's Department of Public Instruction.

That shift would remove all state funding for the NCCU project, which is the subject of a current state audit after officials on the NCCU campus found evidence that a former employee may have embezzled funds from it.

The program also receives state and federal funds. An NCCU official said Thursday the loss of state funding wouldn't necessarily be the program's death knell because it does receive other funding as well.

Earlier this week, I wrote about U.S. Rep. Don Young, an Alaskan who lodged the sole vote against a recent House resolution honoring N.C. Central University in its centennial year.

When I asked the congressman's office about that vote, I was told it had nothing to do with NCCU in particular. It's just that Young tends to vote no on principle when it comes to resolutions, which he thinks are a waste of time.

"Rep. Young voted against the resolution (as he has done on many previous resolutions) to make the point that Members’ time is better spent voting on legislation not resolutions," Young's spokeswoman, Meredith Kenny, told me in an email. "He agrees that such anniversaries and similar occasions should be honored, but they should be discussed, debated, and done by voice vote, and not take up time better spent on legislation affecting all Americans."

Fair enough. But then, this.

About a week after voting against the NCCU resolution, Young sponsored - and voted for - one of his own, lauding the winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which in fairness, is a big deal in Young's home state of Alaska.

(That's the winner, Lance Mackey, in the Los Angeles Times photo above.)

As you can see here, nobody voted against that resolution.