RALEIGH – The North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities is pushing to extend the state’s Legislative Tuition Grant program to part-time students. Hope Williams, president of the association of non-profit private colleges in the state, made the appeal at a meeting of the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee in December.
The legislative tuition grant (called NCLTG) is a popular state program that has been in effect since 1975. In the 2006 short legislative session, the General Assembly raised the maximum grant per student from $1,800 to $1,900 per year.
The NCLTG program was created primarily to bolster private schools rather than provide financial aid. Even before the NCLTG program was created, the General Assembly adopted a need-based financial grant program for private education, the State Contractual Scholarship Fund program. That program continues today, but pays out less — $33. 7 million to colleges, compared with $48.1 million through the NCLTG program.
Whether the grant actually changes decisions of students about where they attend is difficult to determine. The $1,900 cap does not begin to cover the difference between public and private tuition at most schools. Full-time tuition at North Carolina State, for example, is approximately $4,783 per year. Tuition at private colleges is frequently over $20,000 ($21,200 at Meredith and $19,690 at Catawba, for example).
New FIRE study says censorship rampant at colleges
PHILADELPHIA – America’s colleges and universities continue to restrict free speech with campus policies that run counter to the intent of the First Amendment, according to a new report released this month by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
FIRE surveyed 330 schools and found that 68 percent have policies that “both clearly and substantially restrict free speech.” Many of the violations come in the form of speech codes that restrict what can be said on campus, presumably to protect other students, but often, according to FIRE, what is being restricted is protected free speech.
UNC-Greensboro, for instance, bans “disrespect for persons.” This and other restrictions are “over broad and vague,” said a statement by FIRE, and would be unlikely to withstand a court action.
“There is a common misconception that ‘speech codes’ are a thing of the past – a relic of the heyday of political correctness of the 198s and 90s – but the public needs to know that speech codes are perhaps more pervasive than ever,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said.
In January, a joint report between the Pope Center and FIRE found that 13 of the 16 UNC institutions had at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts free speech. Because of that report, Appalachian State overturned a harassment policy that was enforced by the Department of Housing and Student Life.
UNC cheerleaders, mascot used during Edwards’ event
CHAPEL HILL – UNC-Chapel Hill’s cheerleading squad and mascot, Rameses, were used as part of a pseudo-political pep rally for former U.S. Senator John Edwards Tuesday, December 12, during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball” with Chris Matthews.
The show was taped on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. It centered on whether or not Edwards will run for president in 2008, as some have hinted he will. Edwards did not say if he would run for president in 2008.
Since the 2004 election, when he lost as the Democratic Party’s nominee for vice president, Edwards has served as the director of the Center for Poverty, Workforce and Opportunity, an organization on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Former UNC-Chapel Hill Law School Dean Gene Nichol created the organization soon after the election. The school has said that it is not a political vehicle for Edwards, but Edwards has spent time in states with early primaries touting his plans for poverty.