UNC Board Considers Possible Tuition Hike

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

, close to 18 percent of the students are from out of state. Next year, those students could be paying more for their education.

University Provost Robert Shelton has been doing some last-minute tweaking on a tuition hike proposal that he will present to the UNC Board of Trustees Wednesday. The original plan called for a 10 percent tuition hike across the board, but the proposal has drawn opposition from students and professors who say the increase could end up hurting the university.

"We are committed to finding the resources it takes to be a world-class university," UNC Chancellor James Moeser said.

Moeser recently told a UNC faculty council that the university is at a critical point. The issue is faculty retention. He said the school needs to be able to keep the professors it has and recruit the ones it wants, which will take money.

One proposal that has been on the table is to raise tuition for out-of-state students by $1,500. In-state students could see a hike of $300. The faculty council is against the proposed out-of-state hike as many critics worry it will send promising students elsewhere for their education.

Moeser, though, said the money has to come from somewhere and he does not want it to come at the expense of in-state students.

The original plan called for some of the revenue from the tuition increase to go towards athletic scholarships, but that could be dropped from the proposal. Shelton also has some back-up plans in case the first proposal does not pass.

The Board of Trustees is expected to vote either Wednesday or Thursday.