Fitzsimon File

For the past eight years, Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine has named UNC-Chapel Hill the best value in public higher education in its annual rankings of universities that is based on a combination of quality and affordability.

That might lead you to believe that North Carolina is among the nation's leaders in making higher education affordable. After all, the state constitution says that a higher education shall be provided to all its citizens as "free as practicable."

A national report released this week by The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education has a different take on access to higher education in the state. The group gives North Carolina an F for affordability, one of six categories in its 2008 State Report Card on Higher Education.

The study says that the share of family income needed to pay for higher education has risen significantly even after taking financial aid programs into account. That can't make the group's board chair very happy, considering it is former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt. Hunt says that higher education is becoming a "roadblock, not a gateway" for poor and middle class students.

The state fared better in other categories like the percentage of college students that graduate in six years and getting students ready to attend a university or community college. The study points out that only 16 percent of African-Americans in North Carolina who are 25 and older have a bachelor's degree while 30 percent of their white counterparts do.

And North Carolina is not alone. Every state except California flunked the affordability test and the report's conclusion is that overall states are making little progress in making it possible for families to send their children to college and helping them stay enrolled and graduate once they get there.

That troubling findings come as states face massive budget problems. North Carolina's budget shortfall next year could reach $3 billion. Governor-elect Beverly Perdue promised during the campaign to make community college free for qualifying students, though she has said that the program will be delayed because of the state budget crisis.

The proposed responses to the budget shortfall won't make it any easier for families. The Board of Trustees of UNC-Chapel Hill recently voted to raise tuition 6.5 percent and fees another 4.4 percent. Other campuses are expected to follow suit, charging families more at exactly the time when they are less able to pay it.

Most of the coverage of the national report didn't talk much about one fundamental problem implicit in the findings, that family incomes have not kept pace with inflation or tuition increases. And more families have fallen into poverty after layoffs or struggles with major health costs.

More people are poor or teetering on the edge of poverty, meaning that college expenses are a much larger share of income for thousands of families, in many cases a share they cannot pay.

The report is another message that lawmakers should not simply make deep cuts to human services to balance next year's budget.  That would make poverty worse and put higher education even further out of reach for many families.

Governor-elect Beverly Perdue ought to speak out against tuition increases too. Money for increased enrollments at UNC campuses and community colleges must be found elsewhere, from new revenue sources and redirecting other funding.

Almost $100 million of taxpayer money goes to private colleges every year through two programs, the State Contractual Scholarship Funds, which is need-based, and the North Carolina Legislative Tuition Grant, which is not.

The state gives $1,950 every year to private college or university for every North Carolina student who attends, whether they need help with tuition or not. That part of the private college subsidy cost $55 million in 2008 and went to small, modest schools and wealthy schools alike.

Duke received $1.7 million of state taxpayer money in the last fiscal year, Campbell just over $5 million. Gardner-Webb received $3 million from state coffers, Mount Olive College almost $3.5 million.

Giving $100 million of public money to private colleges doesn't make much sense when UNC is raising tuition and fees for in-state students and public higher education is already unaffordable for many families.

Virtually every state politician has pledged to make more college more accessible for North Carolina students. That ought to happen next year, budget crisis or not.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.