Before UNCW’s tuition proposal is sent to the UNCW Board of Trustees or the Board of Governors, it is sent to a committee of students and faculty.

The Student Tuition and Fee Review Committee is in charge of reviewing the financial situation at UNCW. The committee also makes recommendations about actions regarding student tuition and fee increases to the chancellor’s cabinet.

The Board of Governors requires the chancellor to establish a review committee. The committee must have representatives from the student body, business affairs, student affairs and the financial aid department. UNCW’s review committee also includes representatives from ITSD, the chancellor’s office, faculty and the director of planning. Half of the committee is made up of seven students and the other half of faculty and staff. Student members of the committee are appointed by SGA President Mark Blackwell.

“They pay a lot of attention to [students] on the review committee,” said Jan Lucas, SGA’s treasurer. Charles Soden, the student body vice president, was confirmed as a member of the committee last September. This is his first year with the committee.

“As a student, my constituency would be resident undergraduate students, but my role was the same as all members of the committee-review tuition and fee requests, ask questions, and make educated decisions for the students regarding recommended tuition and fee increases,” Soden said.  All requests from the academic departments for tuition increases are submitted to the committee. This includes proposals, budget drafts, statistics, expected outcomes and success measures. Leaders from the academic departments, such as the interim librarian, registrar and Academic Affairs Provost Cathy Barlow, speak to the committee about their request. The committee then asks them questions so that they know why the money is needed, how it will benefit the school, and about any alternative funding.

“In order for tuition to go up there needs to be a definite need for where the money will go,” Soden said.

When looking at the requests, the committee considers how the money sent to a particular department will contribute to the school, how it will benefit the school, and if it is something that students would want, said Lucas.”We don’t want to overburden students if the money is not going to be used the right away,” Lucas said.  According to Soden, the committee has met about 13 times this school.

The review committee and the UNCW Board of Trustees have approved a two-percent increase in tuition for all UNCW students for the 2010-11 academic year. The proposal will be presented to the Board of Governors for final approval. The revenue from the tuition increase would go to a position in the Office of the Registrar to help transfer students, a coordinator position for the simulation laboratory in the School of Nursing building, a distance education librarian, a library technician for the Watson School of Education’s Curriculum Materials Center, and three full-time faculty positions.

Out of the 16 schools in the UNC system, UNCW’s tuition increase proposal to the Board of Governors was the lowest. Seven of the universities proposed a 6.5-percent increase in tuition; this is the highest percentage that the schools in the UNC system can ask for.

“The students should be very proud of UNCW and the work the tuition committee did to keep tuition low for everyone.  A lot of time and effort goes into making the best decisions possible, and I fully believe all the requests were critically important and valuable for the campus community,” Soden said.