The Tar Heel
Norman Black
Tuition rise hurts all students
Thursday, June 24, 1971
There is a bill now before the N.C.
General Assembly which, if passed, could
have a drastic effect on all aspects of
campus life here at Chapel Hill.
The bill would nearly double the
tuition for out-of-state students at all of
North Carolina's state-supported
universities.
The bill was introduced in the House
by Rep. William T. Watkins (D-Granville),
and in the Senate by Senators John J.
Burney (D-New Hanover) and Philip J.
Baugh.
On June 1 8 the bill passed the House.
In the Senate, bill No. 793 has been sent
to the Finance Committee for their
study.
The chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee is Sen. John J. Burney.
Out-of-state undergraduates at the
branches of the Consolidated University
now pay $950 a year for tuition. This bill
would increase that to $1,800 a year.
And graduate out-of-state students
would be even harder hit. Next year their
tuition would increase to $2000, and the
following year it would climb to $2,500 a
year.
If Senate Bill No. 793 passes, UNC will
be the proud possessor of the third largest
difference between in-state and
out-of-state tuition in the country.
That difference would amount to
$1575. Only the University of Vermont
and the University of Montana possess a
larger difference between in-state and
out-of-state tuitions.
Rep. Watkins' stated goal when
introducing the bill was to more nearly
equalize the amount that out-of-state
students pay and the actual costs of
education, estimated at $2,455 per
student per year at UNC.
Granted that the cost for education
varies in each state, it is still interesting to
note that 80 per cent of the states in this
country charge their out-of-state students
substantially less than the increases
proposed to the Assembly.
When speaking to a number of UNC
administrators, I found each one clearly
felt that the addition of out-of-state
students to a state-supported campus
enhanced the educational atmosphere.
But as Director of Student Admissions
Richard Cash well put it: "There is no
doubt that out-of-state students
contribute to our total educational
worth. But you can't attach a dollar
amount to this."
It is obvious that the N.C. General
Assembly has found no value whatsoever
to attach to this contribution.
The only serious objection to this bill
while it was in the House Committee
involved its effective date, which as
written, would be immediately upon
ratification by the Assembly.
"It will be a rude shock for presently
enrolled out-of-state students if this bill is
retroactive," commented Cashwell.
This bill would even affect the future
of athletics on this campus.
Geer pointed out that there are
currently 110 out-of-state athletes on
Carolina squads.
"It would take $93,500 to pay for
their increased tuition," he said.
Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson has said
that the University Administration "is
working very hard against this thing."
"There are two things to accomplish:
(1) to possibly postpone the operation of
the bill for one year; and (2) to try and
moderate the amount of this increase.
These are reasonable positions."
Yes, they are reasonable, Chancellor,
and absolutely essential!
Few out-of-state students could handle
this astronomical increase, and certainly
not with only a summer's notice.
But where does this leave us? If all
state institutions continue to raise
out-of-state tuition in an effort to equal
the costs of education, then the day will
come when no student from this state or
any other state will be able to venture
Letters to the editor
post his state boundaries to acquire an
education.
Regardless of the quality of his state
schools, or of his potential contribution
as an out-of-state student to "the total
educational atmosphere," he will be
economically fenced in.
One cannot help but feel that
something can be done to equalize the
rising differences in tuition. But what?
Can you equalize the in-state and
out-of-state tuition across the country,
and then require the parents of a Florida
student who comes to UNC to pay the
proportion of taxes for education that
N.C. residents pay?
Could an agency of the federal
government regulate a proportion of the
state's taxes and distribute them to
students who go out-of-state?
Would the complete socialization of
education in this country bring about a
better system?
I do not pretend to know all the
answers. But I do feel the N.C. General
Assembly is moving forward with a plan
that will jeopardize the quality of higher
education in this state.
Vice-President Joyner feels that this
large increase in tuition will invite court
action.
If Senate Bill No. 793 passes, one can
only hope so.
Peaceful war protest? Vigil, maybe
To the editor:
The apathy of students on campus was
a much discussed phenomenon during the
past year. And now that it's summer,
nobody cares about anything but making
good grades and having a good time.
The war in Vietnam rages on, the
Nixon administration keeps lying to the
people and now they're even trying to
usurp freedom of the press.
This business about the New York
Times is shocking. It's finally out that the
Johnson administration lied to the people .
and now the Nixon administration is
trying to hide it.
Students have to become active again
and try to stop what's going on. I believe
in peaceful protest but there doesn't seem
to be anything one can do. Nobody cares
enough to organize peaceful protests; all
anyone wants to do is bomb buildings or
something.
What is one to do? Is there no form of
peaceful protest left in which the citizens
of -America can show how they feel
about our government's policy. I believe
that mass letters to our representatives in
Washington can do some good. I really
feel that if students would get out and
protest and write letters, something good
would come of it. I wasn't here during
the strike of 1970 but I think if we had
kept it up, the government would have
changed.
I know it will work but it takes
people, people who believe that the cause
for which they are fighting is just. And it
must be peaceful. We can't do what too
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many people have done. We can't bomb,
kill and destroy property.
For that is what Johnson did. And
that is what Nixon is doing now.
Is there no way to protest?
John Dunnigan
Royal Park Apts.
Wednesday vigil
needs students
To the editor:
In January, 1967, a vigil line was set
up in Chapel Hill to oppose the war in
Vietnam. It was one of many vigils set up
throughout the United States. Our
statement in the beginning was "Until
Americans stop killing and being killed in
Vietnam, a silent vigil every Wednesday
noon to express our sorrow and our
protest." The vigil in front of the Post
Office on Franklin Street lasts for an
hour. The line still stands though the
Administration of our country has
changed. With the Vietnamization
program initiated by President Nixon our
protest now extends to the killing by
proxy and the bombing in Indochina.
Each week the signatures of those who
support the vigil are sent with a covering
letter to the President, and copies go to
our Congressmen: Senators Sam J. Ervin,
Jr., B. Everett Jordan and Rep. Nick
Galifianakis. An extra copy of the
signatures goes with a letter to someone
in Congress chosen by the letter-writer of
the week. The ones recently chosen have
been Rep. Paul McCloskey, Senators
Gravel, McGovern, Hatfield, etc.
The ones who stand in the vigil
cordially invite others to join with
us-people from the town and from the
campus. Those who cannot stand for the
hour are invited to stand for as long as
they can. Ours is a grassroots witness
against the war and against the draft.
Sincerely,
Charlotte Adams
Chapel Hill