The UNC Wilmington Board of Trustees [BOT] met Dec. 11, 2017 to discuss recommendations regarding tuition, fees, room and board rates, and other student charges for the 2018-2019 school year.

According to the Final Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Campus Initiated Tuition Increase [CITI] Proposal, there will be no tuition increases for resident and non-resident undergraduates. The document said that “no tuition increases are allowed for undergraduate resident students,” however, it did say that allowable tuition increases could be made for graduate students.

Resident graduate students, who currently pay $4,626 in tuition, will see a two percent increase as new tuition costs are $4,719: a difference of $93. Non-resident graduate students originally paid $17,834 in the 2017-2018 school year, but this will increase by four percent, equaling $18,548.

The proposal stated that these increases in some tuition prices will go towards “strategic investments that improve student outcomes” and the Board of Governor’s [BOG] need or merit-based financial aid program.

There are currently no increases to mandatory student fees. However, certain non-mandatory fees will be increased. The Pre-NCLEX for nursing students will see an increase of $25 as costs go from $770-795. Alternatively, the Cameron School of Business will remove the previous $150 charge for graduate orientation fees. Both of these only needed to be approved by the BOT or Chancellor Jose V. Sartarelli.

As for meal plans, certain plans could see an increase next school year. The All-Access 5, which offers unlimited meals to Wagoner and Dubs along with five teal meals per week and $150 in food dollars, will increase by $90, totaling $1,830. This is the minimum price of a meal plan for freshmen.

Other plans varied in there increase: the All-Access 7 increased by $110, coming up to $1,950; the Block 115 increased by $45 to be $1,400; the Block 75 went up by $35 to equal $945; and the Block 35 increased by $15 to be $475.

In addition to these increases in meal plans, the proposal talks about a need for renovations in campus dining. Immediate repairs need to be done to Wagoner Hall’s plumbing and key aging equipment needs to be replaced. The Fisher HVAC Retro-commissioning and Hawks Nest dish room also needs improvements.

With Housing, semester and annual rates will increase in all areas. For freshmen areas, Belk, Galloway, Graham, Hewlett and Schwartz will see an increase of $161 while the Tri-House area (Honors, Cornerstone, Innovation, USU Double) will increase by $182. As for the Seahawk Landing, Village and Crossing, there will be an increase of $221.