For most young adults, reaching the age of 21 is the final step into adulthood. At that age, they are allowed to purchase alcohol, having already been granted the privileges of working, driving, voting, smoking and enlisting in the military. Legislation before the U.S. Senate would add another “privilege” to reaching the age of 21: being able to receive a credit card.
North Carolina is one of 39 states likely to face a shortfall in higher education spending in the next several years, according to a new report by Harold A. Hovey, a state budget and tax expert with the California-based National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
“The pathway to success is to keep the doors of our colleges and universities open to all, and to open them even wider,” North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt said in a recent editorial to The Chronicle of Higher Education, a national magazine that examines news and issues concerning colleges and universities nationwide. Hunt’s editorial appeared in the “Opinion & Arts” section of the July 16, 1999 edition of The Chronicle.
The Senate, on June 13, rejected a House bill that would have allowed N.C. citizens to vote on a $1.2 billion bond package for UNC system schools through a statewide referendum. The Senate had passed it’s own version of the bill, which would allow the state to issue $3 billion in state bonds and the UNC Board of Governers to issue an unlimited amount of “special obligation bonds” without a voter referendum. A conference committee has been appointed to work out a compromise bill.
The much-discussed $4.9 billion in state and university bonds for higher education will cost a bit more than taxpayers might realize.
The Pope Center for Higher Education Policy this week released a Spotlight showing why the UNC system should not rely on bonds to finance the UNC system’s construction costs and highlighting better ways to address construction needs. The report poses questions that it says all citizens and legislators should ask before giving approval to the legislation: Can’t the necessary capital dollars come from existing growth in funding?
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pays professors the fifth-highest average salary among public universities of its kind, a study by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy has found. The other Research I institution in North Carolina, North Carolina State University, also pays its professors well comparatively, with an average salary greater than the nationwide average for public Research I institutions. The study examined 56 Research I institutions’ salaries adjusted for the cost of living at each institution’s location.
Bonds may not be the best answer to UNC’s rising construction cost, according to a recent analysis by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. The report comes in the wake of a proposal by the UNC Board of Governors to meet the university’s construction needs by allowing the UNC-system to sell “special obligation” bonds and the state to issue “limited obligation” bonds. The proposal is scheduled to reach the General Assembly within weeks.
This year’s House budget proposal of $13 billion includes tremendous gains for higher education, including millions more for community colleges. The full House is expected to vote on the budget this week.
The UNC Board of Governer’s meeting on May 14 led to the approval of two financial “tools” that could change the way that UNC pays back construction bonds, according to Associated Press reports. The tools are included in two legislative bills that should reach the General Assembly within weeks.