RALEIGH ó Every so often, state Senate leader Marc Basnight casually throws out some idea that, at first blush, seems about as far fetched as walking on the sun.
When the Navy started eyeing eastern North Carolina for a touch-and-go jet landing strip, Basnight suggested that a concrete platform built several miles out in the ocean might be a better option. Once people stopped laughing, at least a few thought, well, it might not be much different than an oil platform.
The Navy still doesn’t think much of the idea.
Another Basnight gem was a budget provision last year that would have required the state to buy bottled water only if it came in biodegradable bottles. Only one company, based in Winston-Salem, makes such bottles, and retailers pretty much went ballistic. The provision was eventually dropped.
Maybe then it’s not surprising that another idea from the Basnight, mentioned as a new legislative session began, didn’t get a whole lot of attention.
The Democratic Duke of Dare tossed around the notion that perhaps the 16 schools in University of North Carolina system ought to charge tuition on sliding scale based on parental income. His legislative chamber may take a look at the idea, he said.
Basnight’s words come as the UNC Board of Governors considers another round of tuition increases requested by the individual universities.
Some schools want increases as high as 6.5 percent, the maximum allowed under a cap created by UNC system president Erskine Bowles. Bowles, though, wants the Board of Governors to cut the school’s requests by a third, citing the down economy.
Besides the economy, Bowles is also contending with earlier, higher tuition hikes.
Over the last eight years, student costs at UNC system schools have doubled. In the 2000-01 school year, average annual in-state tuition and fees stood at $2,134. Today, tuition and fees average $4,090 for the 16 schools.
Just like tuition, faculty pay hikes exceeded inflation during the period. At UNC-Chapel Hill, the average salary for a full professor rose 37 percent, from $100,900 to $138,500 from 2000 to 2007. That pay put the school third highest among public universities across the country, according to a study released last year.
So, here comes Basnight with a wacky notion, right? No, not at all.
Several Ivy League schools ó concerned that escalating tuition was turning their elite schools into elitist schools ólast year began basing tuition on family income. Duke University does the same.
At Harvard, parents earning less than $180,000 a year now pay no more than 10 percent of their income for a child’s yearly tuition. For a family paying $15,000 in tuition, the change represents a $32,000 discount.
For families making less than $120,000, the discount is steeper.
These private schools may be much different than the public universities in North Carolina. But rising tuition that squeezes middle-class and upper middle-class families has an effect no matter the schools their children attend.
Basnight’s idea would probably be welcome by a lot of those families.
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Scott Mooneyham is a Raleigh-based columnist for Capitol Press Association.