UNC system may offer more seats to nonresidents

Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) CHAPEL HILL, N.C. For the first time since they set a firm cap on out-of-state freshman enrollment, leaders of the University of North Carolina system are seriously considering giving non-North Carolinians more seats at all 16 public campuses.Adding nonresidents could help the University of North Carolina system’s national stature, and bring hundreds of bright minds to the state’s talent pool, supporters say. And officials estimate the rise in the number of out-of-state students would be a small portion of overall enrollment.Yet more out-of-state admissions could mean increased competition and potentially fewer spots for the sons and daughters of North Carolina taxpayers, the people who built the campuses and subsidize the educations of resident and nonresident students alike.That is political TNT.”Some people are going to get angry,” said Bob Warwick, who is on the 32-member board that governs the state’s universities. “But we’ve got to get bigger in our thinking than, `Is this going to affect my kid?’ “With few exceptions, state campuses now must limit out-of-state freshmen to 18 percent of each entering class. Schools that violate the cap two years in a row face financial penalties, though university system leaders have waived several fines recently because of budget problems.A plan that could come before the university system Board of Governors next month would give all 16 schools exemptions that could bump out-of-state freshman populations to 22 percent over a five-year period. The new nonresident slots would go to “the most talented and academically gifted students,” including National Merit Scholars and talented black andHispanic applicants.The idea is to help campuses, especially ultra-competitive UNC Chapel Hill, attract top students and ensure cultural and geographic diversity.The plan says schools that choose to invite more out-of-state students must find ways to enroll more North Carolina residents, too. But it lacks specifics on how they’ll pay for the overall enrollment increase that would require.Legislators and other opponents – including the North Carolina School Boards Association and some members of the Board of Governors – fear the university system is placing its national reputation over its duty to North Carolina residents. They say that given the state’s current fiscal crisis, there’s no way to add more out-of-state students without taking away the chance for some in-state kids to attend the campus of their choice.”We’re saying to North Carolinians, `We’ve got a great university, and we’ve got a way to make it better, but you’re not going to get as much of it,’ ” said Charles Norwood, another member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. “I don’t buy that trade-off.”Legislators would not have to approve this change. But the General Assembly does approve tuition and the university system’s annual budget, giving them a certain influence in the debate.Admissions officers estimate the change could mean 1,000 more nonresidents in the entire 180,000-student system in any given year. At UNC, Chancellor James Moeser says it could bring 45 more out-of-state students annually to his school, assuming enrollment continues to grow.This year, 635 of almost 11,000 nonresident applicants enrolled at UNC Chapel Hill. Sixty percent of about 7,000 in-state applicants were accepted.North Carolina’s flagship school is far kinder to homegrown talent than, say, the University of Virginia. There, out-of-state residents make up a third of the population.The debate, however, is about more than statistics.The University of North Carolina is widely considered one of the best public universities in the country, and is the top choice among many North Carolina parents both because of its high quality and relative value.Out-of-state residents played a dramatic role in the UNC system’s rise to national stature, an emergence that has in turn made Chapel Hill more attractive for students from inside and outside North Carolina. In 1992, the average SAT score of in-state freshmen at UNC Chapel Hill was 1,186 – compared with 1,288 for those out of state. Ten years later, the average SAT score for in-state freshmen had risen to 1,255 – and the average nonresident score was 1,326. Out-of-state applicants that UNC rejected last year included almost 1,000 who scored 1,400 or higher on the SATs. Among the top 100 out-of-state students who didn’t get in, 50 were valedictorians, Moeser said.”I have to say, at first I thought raising the cap was a bad idea, but it seems like the only way to stay competitive,” said Matt Tepper, UNC’s student body president and a senior from Raleigh. “Having out-of-state people – and people from out of the country, too – adds this incredible wealth of knowledge.”UNC administrators say adding more students from elsewhere isn’t merely a matter of attracting nonresident talent: Last year, half the North Carolinians admitted to Chapel Hill but who declined to enroll wound up at colleges out of state. Chapel Hill leaders say a more competitive student body will help convince North Carolina’s best high school seniors to stay at home.UNC Chapel Hill administrators are driving the push for more out-of-state students, and during a Board of Governors debate on the matter Friday, Moeser took pains to promise that his school will look for ways to admit more in-state students, too.Yet Chapel Hill isn’t the only campus that could welcome more newcomers. East Carolina University, Elizabeth City State, North Carolina Central and UNC Asheville all bumped against or exceeded the 18 percent cap in 2002. North Carolina A&T and the North Carolina School of the Arts enjoy exemptions.There are financial reasons for adding nonresidents. Many of the system’s biggest potential donors are wealthy grads who moved out of state.Out-of-state students pay a larger share of their educational costs – 96 percent, on average – than in-state students. Generally, in-state students pay a quarter to a third of the cost of their education. The precise figures vary from campus to campus.Yet in this fight, political and historical arguments will play as big a role as fiscal ones.The UNC system does not limit out-of-state enrollment in most graduate programs or after undergraduates’ freshman year. Out-of-state students make up 41 percent of the state system’s doctoral programs, for example.Former university system president Bill Friday, who pushed the current cap, says the UNC system should continue to seek a mix of students – but not at the expense of giving North Carolinians ample shot at the freshman class.”The freshman year entrance is and must remain the focal point of interaction between N.C. citizens and their universities,” he said. “At that point, we should always favor the home-town family. If that’s old-fashioned, then I’m proud to be old-fashioned.”