As Gov. Pat McCrory likes to point out, North Carolina is now the 9th most-populous state in the nation. Our state is growing by 276 people a day.[1]
North Carolina’s economy is also growing – our unemployment rate in December was below the national average at 5.5%. State officials project “robust” economic growth this year. And they conservatively forecast a 3.4% increase in state revenues next year.[2]
So why cut higher education? With more than 10 million people and the jobs of the future requiring an educated workforce, demand for higher education is not shrinking in North Carolina.
Yet the 2015-17 budget that McCrory recommended to legislators last week cuts our state’s public universities by $26 million,[3] even though enrollment is projected to grow by 3,345 students (1.7%) next year and 3,016 students (1.5%) the next.[4] It reduces funds for the state’s community colleges by almost $14 million[5] and orders a 5.5% tuition increase at community colleges.[6]
Perhaps most onerous of all, the governor’s proposal provides no increase[7] in financial aid for university students. This despite the projected increase in enrollment and plans by the UNC Board of Governors to raise tuition an average of 4.3% next year and 3.7% the year after that at all 16 universities.[8]
That would only make it more difficult for students from middle-income families to pay for the education that is increasingly expected in today’s global economy. It means more students borrowing in a state that has prided itself on keeping student debt low.
McCrory’s budget proposal – the opening in a four-month dance with the state House and Senate – does provide as much as $20 million to speed commercialization of university research, $8 million to stabilize the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and $2 million to upgrade antiquated computer systems at Elizabeth City State University.[9]
It also provides $49.3 million to hire the instructors needed for the increased number of students. “This budget continues our commitment to the UNC system by fully funding enrollment growth,” it says.[10]
Yet two pages later, it orders the UNC Board of Governors to cut 2% of its budget, or $49.9 million.
Yes, every institution should look to improve efficiency. But this cut would come after legislators have already reduced state spending per degree by at least 14 percent.[11] And the number of degrees awarded by state universities has increased 18 percent over five years.[12]
So as North Carolina’s economy begins to flourish and the demand for degrees only escalates, the governor recommends yet another cut in higher education. Here we go again.
Related Link: ROSS: Higher ed cuts come at a price
http://osbm.nc.gov/thebudget, p. 27.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article11382839.html
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