ECU Trustees approve increase in tuition and fees

The Board of Trustees has recommended tuition increases of $270 for graduate and undergraduate students for the 2000-2001 academic year.

The trustees, who met Dec. 10, also recommended required student fee increases totaling $56 for the year. Tuition recommendations require action by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and the General Assembly, and fee increases must be approved by the Board of Governors.

The trustees said that 20 percent of the revenue from the tuition increase should be used for need-based student financial aid. They also said that the $270 increase should be reduced by any UNC-wide increase imposed by the Board of Governors. A $30 tuition increase for the next academic year was previously scheduled because of ECU’s move to doctoral status.

The tuition increase endorsed by the Board of Trustees was $150 more than the amount recommended by the university administration. In addition to financial aid, funds from the tuition increase would be used to enhance faculty and staff salaries, information technology and library resources. The tuition increase was opposed by trustees D. Jordan Whichard III, Tom Bayliss and Cliff Webster. Webster opposed the fee increase.

The proposed increases would bring tuition and required fees for in-state undergraduates for 2000-2001 to $2,354, up from the current $1,998. For in-state graduate students, tuition and required fees would total $2,374, up from $2,018. For out-of-state undergraduates, the proposed tuition and fees is $10,216, compared with $9,564 this year, and for out-of-state graduates the proposed total is $10,236, compared with $9,584 this year.