Dive Brief:
- The University of North Carolina System has mandated a tuition freeze and cap on student fees, while using an expenditure analysis to cut appropriations by nearly $1 billion to its 17 campuses.
- Critics of the new funding system also say the system struggles with classifications between faculty and staff, which alters schools’ funding and attractiveness in employee recruitment and compensation.
- Families are likely to endorse the tuition freeze as a method of boosting affordability, but some legislators say the effects of the freeze, like student service reduction or course offerings, will not be felt until years later.
Dive Insight:
Systems throughout the country are battling legislative bodies for relief from budget cuts and tuition freezes, but costs for other state-mandated expenses like healthcare and pension benefits continue to drain tax revenues.
But for those campus leaders who don’t have billion-dollar endowments or strong allies in state government, strategies to build revenue and increase advocacy must become a top priority. Arizona State University has developed a non-profit corporation designed to produce revenue from research, real estate, and technology development. Some schools are partnering with agencies to recruit international students who will pay out-of-state tuition financed by their respective governments.
For college and university leaders, the pressure to remain attractive and viable becomes a game of creativity and aggression in the marketplace.