NC Promise guarantees that tutition prices will stay the same, however, the WCU Board of Trustees approved increases in fees, board and meal plans in December and students can expect to pay higher prices in Fall 2019.
In total, with the most popular meal plan and standard residence hall, in- state students can expect to pay $13,178 for the 2019-2020 school year compared to the $12,738 for the 2018-2019 school year.
The tuition and fees increase are proposed by the university senior administration and reviewed by the Tuition and Fees Advisory Committee created to provide student input on the proposals.
The committee is made up of half students and half-staff, including faculty and student senate, financial aid director and 3 nominations from the Student Government Association.
Sam Miller, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, and Matt Opinski, Student Government Association president, are the co-chairs of the committee.
Students may be surprised by the proposed increases, but they had the chance to voice their thoughts when the committee held two open forums during fall 2018 – Oct.30 and Nov.17. Both forums had poor attendance. Additionally, surveys were sent out to all students acquiring their thoughts on the fees increase.The survey responses are taken into consideration when making a decision.
“There is not a lot of support for increased fees,“ Miller said.
Additionally, different student offices like Residential Living, Campus dining, and the Bookstore presented their thoughts about the increases to the committee.
“We try to balance the quality of the services with making sure they’re affordable and at good value,” Miller said. “We know sometimes students’ perception are pretty negative and we keep trying to work on that.”
What are the proposed fees increases for the 2019-2020 school year?
The trustees approved a 3.4 percent increase on the athletics fee even though the Budget and fees committee voted against it. This increase means that students will pay $26 more – from $756 to $782. There is 2.6 percent increase on the health services fee, raising the fee from $306 to $314. The student activity fee will see a 2.3 percent increase from $618 to $632. The transportation fee will see a 4.2 percent increase from $118 to $123. There will be a 1.4 percent increase on the book rental fee, raising the fee from $294 to $298.
On top of this, there will be a 4.2 percent increase for residence hall rooms and depending on the room, the increase can be either $232 or $270. The meal plans will increase by 4 percent. The increase depends on the meal plan, commuter meal plans will see an increase of either $25 or $32. On-campus students can expect an increase ranging from $125 to $176, depending on the meal plan.
Meal plans fee are contractually obligated to increase due to increased food costs and operating expenses. Utilities usually go up every year for the up keeping of dorms.
Overall, the proposed increases add up to over $400.
For more information on the different increases for dorms and meal plans, click here.
Miller attributed most of the reasoning behind increases on fees are for salaries and benefits for employee positions that aren’t funded by the state.
The student activity fee increase would be going towards raising funds for additional renovations of the former UC Food Court, the Campus Recreational Center (CRC) and the intramural fields, Miller added.
The health fee increase would go towards salaries but would also go towards facility reserves. SGA created a resolution around reserves in relation to the accessibility to Bird. There aren’t a lot of access points for people in wheelchairs or crutches to get inside Bird, and so a resolution was passed that would help build better infrastructure to allow more wheelchair accessibility, Opinski explained.
Not to mention, funds are needed for the demolition of Scott and Walker during summer 2020.
“We’re trying to improve the campus and make the experience better for students,” Miller said. “That sometimes mean investing in future project that current students may not see the benefit of it.”
While WCU Board of Trustees approved the increases, it still has to be approved by the UNC Board of Governors and after that it will be proposed as apart of the state legislature budget. The outcome of this won’t be known until July, Miller said.
