Tuition Increases Make Some Students Worry
By Kelsey Richards

Tuition is increasing again this year, and many students are not happy about having to pay more money. Many think it’s unnecessary and unfair. One of the reasons these students are unhappy is because they don’t know what the extra money is for.

Student Body President Seth Dearmin says tuition is rising for valid reasons.

“To increase TA’s stipends to make sure that we’re competitive with our peer institutions, to recruit the best TAs, and then also to retain key faculty that we want to keep,” Dearmin said.

But some students say there are ways to make tuition increases easier to digest.

“I think if we kinda could put in some sort of plan that locks in tuition for each incoming class for their four years or something like that, people would probably complain a lot less,” said one student.

After considering student input, the Board of Trustees has instated a predictability clause for tuition decisions from this point forward.

We really do establish a plan of where tuition is going to go over time, and that in and of itself gives us a real ability to say to students and to families that this is what you can expect,” Dearmin said.

Kiplinger Magazine just rated Carolina as having the best value of any public university in the country for the fifth time. The president of the out-of-state student association, Joy Kasaaian, says she decided to come to Carolina because of the value, but she thinks if tuition continues to rise, we may lose some out-of-state students.

“I think that they will probably be looking at a lower caliber of out-of-state students with these hikes,” Kasaaian said.