UNC tuition hikes, University of NC System raises tuition costs in dismal economy, Working students and families pay other’s tuition, Income redistribution

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”…Margaret Thatcher

A teachable moment.

Once again the Greensboro News Record has placed articles about the dismal jobs situation and economy in Guilford county and NC on the front page with  UNC, University of North Carolina University System tuition hikes. I congratulate them for that.

From the Greensboro News record February 11, 2012.

“Amid chants of protest from about 100 students, the UNC Board of Governors this morning approved President Tom Ross’ proposal for tuition and
fee hikes over the next two years.

Ross’ plan would raise tuition by an average of 8.8 percent across the system and keeps increases below 10 percent on every campus.

UNCG’s in-state undergraduates would see a $423, or 7.5 percent, increase in tuition and fees under Ross’ plan. Trustees had sought an increase of 7.8
percent.

N.C. A&T undergraduates from North Carolina would see an 8.4 percent, or $385, increase.

Ross’ plan also sets tuition increases for 2013-14. Tuition for UNCG resident undergraduates would increase $153, or 2.5 percent. Those at A&T would see an
increase of $200, or 4 percent.

Students from campuses across the state packed the lobby of the General Administration Building, showing their discontent over the hikes by carrying signs that, drawing on the Occupy movement, declared the board of governors as the one percent; beating drums and chanting throughout the entire meeting. They marched from the UNC-Chapel Hill campus and were met by police officers, who explained there was no capacity for all of them in the meeting room.

“We’re trying to take part in the governance of the university!” they yelled in response.

“Our university!”

“No justice! No peace!”

When David Young, chairman of the board’s budget and finance committee, sought a motion to vote, a group of students inside the meeting room interrupted, chanting in part, “Your tuition hikes will shackle students with years of debt and force many to drop out of UNC system schools!”

When board members turned to discussing what percentage of tuition dollars should support needy college students, protesters in the lobby could be heard
shouting, “We want financial aid!”

Today’s vote caps months of intense debate over tuition, which the system has used in recent years to help make up for legislative cuts to its budget. The
hikes have forced more students to take on extra jobs to pay for school, or drop out altogether.”

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/02/10/article/amid_protests_unc_system_approves_tuition_fees_hikes

From the print edition:

“The state mandates that at least 25 percent of the money from the tuition dollars go toward financial aid for needy students. Some board members recently have spoken out about that requirement, saying it essentially calls for students, who themselves may be struggling, to subsidize the education of other students.”

The teachable moment.

To the students, working families struggling to pay tuition:

Most people do not fit neatly into boxes that define Republican, Democrat, Independent, Conservative, Liberal, etc. The only tag I accept for myself is
fiscal conservative. I also believe in the US Constitution as the rule of law. At the end of the day it is all that we have to protect you and me.

I promise you, as a fiscal conservative that I am more concerned about your condition in life than the many politicians or liberals spewing platitudes about
educational concerns.

Some observations about the UNC tuition hikes:

I have watched some of these schools spending like drunken sailors for years, apparently not anticipating or properly reacting to the downturn in the
economy.

Colleges in NC and elsewhere spend other people’s money. As Margaret Thatcher stated: “They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money.”

These “educators” are supposed to be educating our young people. What kind of message does this send?

Welcome to the world of socialism, redistribution of wealth. In a way I am glad this is happening. A real world example of taking from the “rich” and giving to the “poor.”

I am on the side of the students. Not because they have a right to a college education, but because as responsible citizens we should endeavor to keep costs down and subsequently teach the ultimate lesson about survival and what bad government and socialist policys yield.