Writer: Jerrica DuBois
2 min read March 2022 — The cost of higher education is a constant battle for students and parents, and weighing affordability against value can be tough to navigate. Colleges and universities in North Carolina have taken notice and doubled down on their efforts to make sure students can receive a quality education at an affordable price.
With the recent vote from the Board of Governors of the UNC System, tuition costs for North Carolina residents have remained stable for the sixth year in a row. The board did, however, approve an increase in nonresident tuition for some state colleges and universities. New fee rates for the system’s universities were also approved at an average increase of less than 1%.
Many North Carolina institutions are also stepping up their fundraising efforts. Over the last five years, North Carolina State University has raised more than $2.1 billion with its Think and Do the Extraordinary Campaign. The effort concluded on Dec. 31, 2021 as the largest fundraising campaign in North Carolina State University’s history.
Not to be outdone, UNC Chapel Hill announced it has raised $4.25 billion in its fundraising drive. With the rest of 2022 remaining for the campaign, UNC Chapel Hill has already surpassed their financial goal. The funds raised in the final months of the campaign are slated to include allocations for scholarships and fellowships for undergraduate, graduate and professional students.
East Carolina University raised more than $300 million through a silent phase before making their campaign public in November. The $500 million fundraising drive, which is the largest in ECU’s history, has raised nearly $60 million so far in FY 2022.
Grants have also been an integral part of funding for institutions of higher education. The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation awarded a $1.8 million grant to North Carolina Central University to spark interest in pharmaceutical and life sciences careers. The grant will encourage more minority students to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering or math sectors. The grant will also provide 60 first-year North Carolina Central University students with scholarships that include tuition and fees, near-peer mentoring, skills training as well as professional development opportunities. The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation has awarded grants to a number of institutions in previous years, including North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Duke University Medical Center.
In addition to fundraising efforts and systemwide improvements, institutions are also doing their best to implement creative solutions themselves. For example, NC Wesleyan was the first college in the region to provide a loan repayment assistance program, helping recent graduates pay their student loans if their income after graduation is below $50,000.
