WILMINGTON, N.C. - The University of North Carolina Wilmington Board of Trustees approved tuition increases for the 2008-09 academic year in the amount of $46 for in-state undergraduate students, $55 for in-state graduate students, and $250 for out-of-state undergraduate or graduate students. Fee increases totaling $82.75 for athletics, health services, student activities and education/technology also were approved.
Tuition and fee requests from all of the UNC campuses will be presented to the Board of Governors for final approval at its February 2008 meeting.
The increases for UNC Wilmington are well within the guidelines set by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors for the 16 UNC campuses. Under the formula developed for the UNC system, UNCW was eligible for a maximum increase for in-state undergraduate tuition of 3.9 percent. However, the university chose to recommend an increase of just 1.9 percent in order to keep tuition as affordable as possible for all students.
"Keeping our tuition increase below 2 percent will allow UNCW to move forward in meeting our progress measures while being sensitive to the financial concerns of our students," said Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo. "The increase will provide the funding we need to address financial aid needs, continue to attract and retain high quality faculty, make further progress in lowering our student-faculty ratio, and increase student support services."
The increases will generate additional revenue in the amount of $755,986 from tuition and $907,685 from fees. Of the tuition increase, UNCW proposes to use 34 percent to attract and retain faculty through increased compensation to meet market competitiveness, 25 percent to address financial aid needs, 24.5 percent to add two faculty positions in support of steady progress toward its long-term goal of a student-faculty ratio of 16 to 1, and the rest to support increased services in the areas of financial aid and student services counseling, library services and Math Lab instructional support and tutoring.
A committee appointed by the chancellor and including members representing students, faculty and staff developed and recommended the increases, basing its recommendations on funding of critical university needs. UNCW's total tuition and fee amount for resident undergraduates will remain within the bottom quartile of its public peers. Non-resident undergraduate costs will remain below the top quartile for this same higher education peer group.
