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GREENSBORO — When it came time to vote on a 5 percent increase in UNCG’s tuition, 19-year-old sophomore Michael Tuso’s hand shot up in dissent.

It’s not what you think. Tuso wanted to pay more.

Like it or not, he’ll save a few bucks. UNCG’s board of trustees voted 7-2 Thursday for a plan to raise tuition by 5 percent for students from North Carolina and by 2.5 percent for out-of-state students. The board's recommendation now goes to the UNC Board of Governors for a final decision in February or March.

As president of UNCG’s student government, Tuso holds a trustee's seat. He and trustees Chairman Steve Hassenfelt voted against the plan.

Both favored a 6.5 percent increase.

A separate vote to increase student fees by about 1 percent — $16 per year — passed unanimously.

It all adds up to this for the 2009-10 school year:

• Undergraduate students from North Carolina will pay $141 more. Tuition and fees total $4,276, a 3.4 percent increase over this year.
• Out-of-state undergrads will pay $366 more. Tuition and fees total $15,995, a 2.3 percent increase.

Room and board costs won’t be available for another couple of months, Chancellor Linda Brady said, but they will almost certainly increase from the $6,088 on-campus students paid this year.

Tuso and Hassenfelt supported a proposal from the UNCG tuition study task force that would have added $179 to an undergrad’s yearly bill — $163 for tuition and $16 for fees.

“Having the conversation in terms of percentages skews perceptions,” Tuso said. “I wish we could’ve focused on dollars and cents instead. ... We’re not talking about incredible amounts here. We’re talking about a ($38) difference.”

Whatever the difference, the original proposal did call for 6.5 percent. And some trustees called that number too ugly.

“Even if it’s only $163, are we really sending the right message in this economic climate?” trustee Jean Davis said of the original tuition proposal.

“I know $163 doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but to our students here right now, it’s still 6.5 percent. It’s the playing field they’re on, and ... I see a 6.5 percent increase greatly at odds based on what’s going on in the business world.”

Trustees Linda Carlisle, Earlene Hardie Cox and William Pratt all spoke against the 6.5 percent proposal.

“I think there’s a disconnect here,” Pratt said. “We’re talking about maintaining the goals of the university, and outside the walls of the university, the walls are crumbling. ... The question I think we should ask is, 'Should we take a pause?’”

The answer was yes; trustees scaled back the tuition hike.

“I wanted the 6.5 percent increase because the money is going to be reinvested into UNCG and ultimately benefit the students,” Tuso said. “However, I do feel like 5 percent ... was a good compromise.”

The board voted to split the money made from the tuition hike 50-50. Half will go into a provost’s fund for students, and merit-based raises for faculty could come from that money, but raises are not guaranteed.

Even with the tuition raise, UNCG is still a bargain, vice provost Alan Boyette said.

Eight years ago, UNCG’s tuition-and-fee total was the third-highest among the 16 schools in the UNC system, trailing only UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State. Last year, UNCG was 10th on the list.

“I think we get beat up unfairly when you talk about percentages because our tuition is so low to begin with,” Boyette said.

“A 6.5 percent raise here costs less than a 2 or 3 percent raise at some other schools. ... I think our proposal (was) very responsible based on what we’ve done in the last eight years.”

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com