Rachel Johnson worked at Wendy’s because the restaurant gave its employees free food. Tony Caravano used scholarship money to pay extra tuition bills instead of studying abroad. And countless parents fear they may have to pull their children out of the state’s public universities if tuition goes up again.
On Monday afternoon, a dozen student leaders from UNC campuses presented a book of more than 800 personal stories that detail the impacts of proposed tuition increases and budget cuts. Johnson and Caravano, both student body presidents at UNC system campuses, told their tales to put human faces on the proposed increases. …
— Barbara Barrett, “Student book tells tales of struggle,” The News & Observer, Feb. 10, 2004
CHAPEL HILL — His youthful brow unnaturally creased with furrows, Manfred Weinlaud III lay stretched across his bed in Granville Towers pondering his future in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On his pillow, a newspaper opened to the help-wanted section supplanted the usual mint.
A few miles away, N.C. State junior Justin Anguish tarried outside a Raleigh bank, fists clenching and unclenching inside his jean pockets as he wrestled with a decision that could affect him for the next five years.
Meanwhile, half the state away, the parents of Sally Whanemiker were holding serious discussions. Could they fit another part-time job in their busy schedules so she could preserve all her free time for her studies at UNC-Wilmington?
Across the state, similar scenes are being played out. That’s because UNC schools are discussing raising tuition again, some schools by up to $300.
For many UNC students, it is their first taste of hardship, and for many parents of UNC students, it could mean their last gasp at shielding their fledglings from hardship.
“I may have to give up flying home,” says Weinlaud. “And if I drive to Florida for Spring Break, that’ll cut out two whole days of partying. It’s not fair!”
“Do I try to get a loan?” asked Anguish. He’s worried that the banks will not be pleased with his growing credit card debt. “But I have to do something. I had to eat Ramen noodles last week! This can’t be right!”
The Whanemikers, meanwhile, worried how Sally would manage if they decided they could not handle more work. As it is, they see each other only at dinner times and every other weekend. “But this is for her future,” they say. “She can’t work for that.”
Fortunately for them, there is an organization of students out there committed to keeping some students costs down. A collective of UNC students with campus positions in student government, the Carolina Leadership Organization for Winning New Subsidies (CLOWNS) has published an 800-page, glossy-paper compilation of students’ and parents’ stories of financial hardships from paying UNC tuition. The 500 copies of the book, Sniffle & Whine: On (Not) Getting Free Tuition in North Carolina, were published entirely from student fees. That’s because the UNC Board of Governors two years ago approved a special increase in student fees that was set up for the CLOWNS.
“I mean, we were like, ‘Oh my God, look at all this money and stuff,'” said CLOWNS president Danny Pander, who has served in various student leadership positions during his nine years at N.C. State. “So we had to find some use for it, since the BOG wouldn’t approve us putting it all into our own stipends.”
The book idea first came to Anna Nuthawon, CLOWNS vice president and UNC-CH senior. “All my friends were like crying,” she said. “They were like, ‘Oh my God, if I go to work I’ll break a nail!’ and ‘A loan? Banks give me hives!’ and ‘My mom will kill me!'”
Nuthawon said she had an epiphany. “I realized that if they were to write it all down, then we could put it in a book and look all impressive, plus maybe I wouldn’t have to hear it any more.” The book would help exhaust the CLOWNS’ budget and give the impression that the fee increase was justified, she said.
“I also started a web site, Whine&Pleas.com,” she said. UNC students can post their tuition stories there. “In other words, don’t come crying to me,” Nuthawon said, laughing.
Pander added, ‘Look at me, I’m important.”
At this stage, the issue is unsettled. The BOG has delayed its vote on the issue of allowing UNC schools to raise tuition.
