UNC-Chapel Hill won’t raise tuition and fees for in-state students next year
UNC-Chapel Hill will not raise tuition for any North Carolina students next year, keeping the university one of the most affordable among its peers.
The UNC Board of Trustees voted to approve 2021-22 tuition and fee rates at its meeting Thursday.
Out-of-state students will pay about $700 more next year for undergraduates and about $560 more for graduate students, a 2% increase. All students will pay an extra $10 fee for health services.
The trustees were constrained by rules set by the UNC System Board of Governors not to allow tuition increases for North Carolina residents or fee increases except for campus health.
UNC a ‘remarkable’ value
In the board’s finance committee meeting, Nate Knuffman, UNC-CH’s interim vice chancellor for finance and operations, presented recommendations for 2021-22 tuition and fees and how the cost compares to other universities.
UNC offers the lowest tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students among its public peers at $8,980 per year, according to Knuffman. That price is much lower than at the University of Texas, UCLA, the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia, which cost between $11,000 and $19,000 per year.
UNC is the second most expensive school in the UNC System, behind N.C. State University.
UNC student fees are the lowest in the UNC System at about $1,700 for undergraduate and graduate students. The average cost of fees across the system is about $2,600.
UNC’s tuition and fees for in-state graduate students are also below the average cost at public peer institutions.
Those lower costs are part of UNC and the UNC System’s goals to make college more affordable and accessible to North Carolinians.
“By any measure, UNC-Chapel Hill’s tuition is incredibly affordable,” Knuffman said.
For out-of-state students, UNC is a bit closer to market rates. But the university is still significantly below the average at public peer institutions, even with the increases next year.
UNC is raising tuition for out-of-state students to about $35,000 per year for undergraduates and $29,000 for graduate students. Those increases will generate about $3.2 million for the university.
Trustees also approved a $2,500 increase for the UNC School of Law, which hasn’t raised tuition since 2012. The school also ranks lowest compared to competitive peers in other states, according to Knuffman.
Trustee Jeff Brown said he recognized how COVID-19 has affected families financially, but he suggested raising tuition even more for out-of-state students. He said the gap between UNC and its peers in terms of cost continues to widen and that raising tuition by 2.5% or 3% would bring in additional income of up to about $1.5 million.
“The data shows that we are a remarkable value,” Brown said.
With the trustees’ approval, the recommendation will now go to the UNC System Board of Governors for approval.
Update on spring plans
Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz gave trustees an update on plans for the spring semester, when the university will bring students back to campus and offer in-person classes.
“We’re working to ensure a successful start and finish to the spring 2021 semester,” Guskiewicz said.
Before the fall semester, UNC had limited experience with the pandemic and an “untested playbook to guide our decision-making,” Guskiewicz said. Some plans worked and some didn’t, which caused frustration and disappointment, he said.
“We’ve learned from our experience this fall, from listening to our community and the experiences of other universities around the country,” Guskiewicz said.
For the spring, some of the changes include:
▪ Classes will start about two weeks later than normal on Jan. 19.
▪ Students will live in dorms, but campus housing will be reduced, with approximately 3,500 students in single rooms only.
▪ Isolation and quarantine space will be four to five times larger than this fall.
▪ There will be more enforcement of community standards, particularly off campus.
▪ UNC will require COVID-19 testing for students, faculty and staff returning to campus in January and throughout the spring semester as part of a surveillance testing program.
The mandatory coronavirus testing will likely be the biggest undertaking next spring. UNC Health’s Dr. Amir Barzin explained some of the details of the expanded testing program at the full board meeting Thursday.
Barzin said the university plans to have multiple testing sites across campus that are easily accessible for on-campus students, that have parking and that are near bus routes. The self-administered tests will take about two minutes to complete, and students should expect results within 24 hours.
This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 4:09 PM with the headline "UNC-Chapel Hill won’t raise tuition and fees for in-state students next year."
