Officials' Views Differ On Admissions Cap
By Brook Corwin
Staff Writer
October 22, 2001
Last year 9,735 out-of-state students applied
to UNC-Chapel Hill, a total that is 40 percent
higher than the number of in-state applicants.
But nearly 8,000 of those students received
rejection letters in reply.
For many of these denied applicants, their rejections came as a result of the
University's only quota related to admissions -- an 18 percent cap on
out-of-state freshman enrollment.
The cap, which is based on an N.C. General Assembly statute and is in place
for all 16 schools in the UNC system except the N.C. School of the Arts, is
designed to ensure enrollment spaces for N.C. residents because they pay
taxes to help fund the state's public universities.
But the enrollment limit also has created a highly competitive out-of-state
applicant field, and some officials say UNC-CH could benefit from changing
the cap to give more of these prospective students a place at the University.
"We're getting the top students from across the country," said Jerry Lucido,
director of admissions at UNC-CH. "Anytime you can attract that kind of
brain power, it's going to benefit in-state students and the state as a whole."
Marcia Harris, director of University Career Services, said 24 percent of
out-of-state students -- compared to 66 percent of in-state students -- in the
class of 2001 took jobs in North Carolina after graduation. "There is quite a
difference between in-state and out-of-state students, but that's still a quarter
of all out-of-state students who stayed and contributed to the state," Harris
said.
But members of the General Assembly said because public universities are
partially funded by tax dollars, out-of-state enrollment is a political issue open
to the viewpoints and votes of the state's citizens.
Rep. Cary Allred, R-Orange, said there is public opposition to an increase in
out-of-state admissions because it would come at the expense of those
helping to pay university operating costs. Allred said $2,700 of each
out-of-state student's costs are funded by N.C. taxpayers.
"There are a lot of people who feel allowing 18 percent of students to be
out-of-state is too much," Allred said. "For every place given to an
out-of-state student, there's an in-state student who has to go to a private
school and pay more when they're the ones subsidizing public universities in
the state."
John Blackburn, dean of admissions at the University of Virginia, said Virginia
legislators' concerns about in-state enrollment have reduced UVa.'s
out-of-state enrollment from 50 to 33 percent during the last decade. "The
issue is almost always over (state legislators') constituents complaining that
their kids are not getting into their first choice of schools in state," he said.
"They're just listening to their constituents."
Despite constituent concerns, not all members of the N.C. General Assembly
are opposed to adjusting the enrollment cap to favor out-of-state students.
Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, said he supports the
idea of admitting more out-of-state students because they would enhance the
academic climate of UNC-CH. "The cap is probably an artificial barrier,"
Rand said. "I think we ought to look around and get the best students that we
can."
UNC-CH officials said there are several ways to allow the enrollment of more
out-of-state students without changing the 18 percent cap. Any alteration to
the cap would need to be proposed by the Board of Governors and
approved by the General Assembly. "I would take a look at structuring the
cap so students on athletic or academic scholarship are not included in the
out-of-state total," said UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser.
Lucido said another option is changing the cap from a campuswide cap to a
systemwide cap, allowing any individual school to potentially enroll more
out-of-state students, provided the total student population of the 16 UNC
campuses remains at 18 percent.
But Rand said that while there has been discussion on the topic of adjusting
the out-of-state enrollment cap, there are no present plans to recommend any
changes. "If I were king for a day, this is something I would take a look at,"
he said. "But changing it is unlikely to happen in the near future."
Andrew Payne, president of the UNC Association of Student Governments
and a nonvoting BOG member, said most BOG members see no reason to
change the cap. "If we let individual campuses determine their own admissions
policies, there is the possibility that our university system will be overrun with
out-of-state students," he said. "Out-of-state students play a vibrant role in
university life, but we have to make sure that the university system serves the
citizens of this state."
Many officials say defining how UNC-CH can best serve the state is the most
critical aspect in the debate about out-of-state enrollment. Lucido said the
benefits of post-graduate work must be weighed against the importance of
education that is accessible to N.C. residents.
"We do have a mission, as a public university, to serve this state," he said.
"The question is, should we do that through graduate research, through public
service or through undergraduate enrollment."