Trustees back fee boosts, including 9% for housing; maximum of 2.8% for tuition

The UNC Asheville Board of Trustees last Saturday unanimously approved a proposal to require full-time UNCA students to carry health insurance, beginning with the fall semester in 2008.

Under the plan, students must either provide evidence of health coverage or pay $611 per year for a plan through a company chosen by the university. One board member recused himself from the health-insurance vote. The proposal follows the trend of other state schools.

In other action, the board also unanimously approved recommended tuition and fee increases ó including a boost of about 9 percent for housing ó for the 2008-2009 academic year. One board member recused herself on the tuition-fees vote. The meeting following UNCAís Winter Commencement.

The recommendations, which now move to the UNC Board of Governors for consideration in early 2008, originated with a six-member tuition committee and an eight-member fees committee, comprising faculty, students and administrators.

The money from the higher rates will be partially allocated for new and expanded student-activities programs, such as group fitness classes and increased outdoors activities, UNCA officials noted.

The trustees backed increasing UNCAís annual in-state tuition by $32 and annual out-of-state tuition by $372 for the 2008-09 academic year. Current annual in-state tuition is $2,307 and annual out-of-state tuition is $13,297.

If the tuition increase is approved, 25 percent will be set aside for students receiving need-based financial aid, 50 percent will go to student services, and 25 percent to faculty salaries.

The recommendation approved by the trustees also includes a $98.50 increase in annual required student fees. The fees help fund student activities, student health services, athletics, and student computing and scientific equipment needs. The required student fees for the current academic year total $1,736.85.

Under the plan, out-of-state undergraduates will pay $13,669 ó a 2.8 percent boost over the current annual cost of $13,297.
As for the housing-fee increase, housing costs for a standard two-person room will increase from $3,450 to $3,760.

Ten campuses in the 16-campus University of North Carolina system currently require students to carry health insurance and two other campuses have similar plans under way for fall 2008, according to Bill Haggard, UNCAís vice chancellor for student affairs.

ìIn recent years, we have become deeply concerned about our uninsured students,î Haggard said. ìWe know that students who are ill will seek medical care earlier when they are covered by insurance, which, in turn, can prevent treatable problems from growing into serious illnesses and medical crises.

ìWe have seen studentsí academic careers threatened when they become seriously ill or injured, and when uninsured students become ill or injured, that threat can be significantly compounded by substantial health-care debt. It makes sense for the university to establish student health-insurance coverage that provides access to quality health care and achieves a balance between coverage and cost,î Haggard noted.

Full-time undergraduate students, which are those students carrying 12 or more credit hours, who can document that they have a minimum level of health-insurance coverage will receive a waiver.

Students who do not have adequate documentation will be required to purchase insurance through UNCA at the estimated cost of $611 a year ($305.50 per semester) for 12-month coverage. Those who purchase the insurance through the university will be able to have the insurance premiums built into the cost of attendance for financial-aid purposes.

The insurance will be provided through Pearce & Pearce Inc., a national student health-insurance company, which already offers optional health insurance for UNCA students.

About 30 percent of UNCA full-time undergraduate students are uninsured, based on the experiences of the 10 UNC campuses that already require health insurance. UNCA expects to have about 3,000 full-time undergraduate students on campus in fall 2008.†

The plan will cover up to $3,000 of health-care costs for each incident, which includes emergency-room visits and routine doctor visits, with a cap on insurance payments at $30,000 per year.

Trustees chairwoman Janice Brumit termed the plan ìa pretty good deal.î

Board member Joseph Damore, president and chief exuctive officer of Mission Hospitals, explained that he did not participate in the vote on the health-insurance proposal because he wanted to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest owing to his health-care profession.

In addition, board member Audrey Byrd Mosley said she recused herself from the vote on the tuition and fee increase because her child attends UNCA.