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Education

Win-lose at UNC

UNC’s Board of Governors has agreed to take money from UNC Chapel Hill and three of the system’s smallest campuses to redistribute to the rest of its institutions. The approval of the $30 million “performance funding reallocation” came Thursday over the objections of several BOG members, among them former state...

By Ray Gronberg

September 19, 2025

UNC enrollment tops quarter-million mark

Enrollment across the UNC System’s universities hit a record high this fall, with preliminary numbers showing a collective 3.4% growth rate from the previous year. All told, the numbers indicate that 256,438 students showed up for fall classes, 8,511 more than in 2024. The system’s three largest campuses remain NC...

By Ray Gronberg

September 18, 2025

UNC tuition and enrollment

Only one UNC Board of Governors member objected on Wednesday to giving North Carolina public universities latitude to propose tuition increases of up to 3% for newly enrolled in-state students. Former Rep. Art Pope, R-Wake, said the system leaders would undercut their successes in keeping student debt down and a...

By Ray Gronberg

September 18, 2025

AI at UNCC

While Elon and Queens are merging, the UNC System’s institutions are poised to expand their academic offerings. Four new programs are on the docket for Board of Governors review this week, highlighted by UNC Charlotte’s proposal to set up new bachelor’s and master’s degrees in artificial intelligence. UNCC also wants...

By Ray Gronberg

September 17, 2025

North Carolina’s higher education sector is getting a major shakeup

North Carolina’s higher education sector is getting a major shakeup, as Alamance County’s Elon University and Charlotte’s Queens University are merging. Tuesday’s announcement from the private institutions left no doubt that in practice, the deal is more an Elon takeover of Queens than it is a merger of equals. At...

By Ray Gronberg

September 17, 2025

UNC campuses, taxed

UNC System leaders are poised to take nearly $6.9 million from UNC Chapel Hill’s state-supplied revenue and redistribute the money to 12 of the state’s other public universities. Winston-Salem State, UNC Asheville and the UNC School of the Arts would also lose small amounts of money ($253,288, $177,831 and $75,894,...

By Ray Gronberg

September 16, 2025

UNC tuitions

UNC System President Peter Hans and his team are signaling a willingness to at least consider requests from the state’s 16 public universities for in-state tuition increases. Their recommended tuition and fee instructions to campuses would allow them to propose in-state tuition increases of up to 3%, for new students...

By Ray Gronberg

September 16, 2025

Fitch and charter schools

Critics of North Carolina’s expansion of charter schools have long fretted about what they see as soft state oversight, given that legislators have tended to stack key review boards with charter-school advocates. But never fear. Wall Street (or, more accurately, Midtown Manhattan) is on the case. Fitch Ratings is poised...

By Ray Gronberg

September 12, 2025

New FIRE campus-speech rankings released

UNC Chapel Hill improved its standing in the latest FIRE campus-free-speech rankings, but the group’s surveys indicate that students are increasingly dubious that Chancellor Lee Roberts and his team really support free speech. The school ranked 19th nationally out of 257, a 43-place improvement from its showing in the Foundation...

By Ray Gronberg

September 10, 2025

Free speech and UNC Chapel Hill

UNC Chapel Hill already has the lowest standing of any of North Carolina’s state universities in the annual FIRE College Free Speech Rankings, and that might not be getting better anytime soon. The Daily Tar Heel in a recent series of articles has highlighted the campus administration’s move to first cover and then take...

By Ray Gronberg

September 5, 2025

Supremes, lies and school buses

The state Supreme Court has overturned the N.C. Department of Transportation’s 2019 firing of an employee accused of falsifying the recertification records of at least five school-bus drivers. The majority opinion, authored by Justice Richard Dietz, contradicted a unanimous ruling from a majority-Republican Court of Appeals panel that had sided...

By Ray Gronberg

August 25, 2025

Troubles at school

Last week, State Auditor Dave Boliek and his team issued a “rapid response report” on the causes of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools’ estimated $46 million budget deficit. The basics here have already appeared in a Trib Top 10 item, but it’s worth taking a closer look given the report’s top-line...

By Ray Gronberg

August 20, 2025

UNC law dean sets date for stepping down

UNC Chapel Hill law school dean Martin Brinkley says he’s going to step down as soon as Chancellor Lee Roberts can hire a successor, or at the end of the 2025-26 academic year, whichever comes first. Brinkley has been the Chapel Hill law school’s dean since 2015, uniquely coming to...

By Ray Gronberg

May 13, 2025

State of education

The folks at Best NC issued their 2025 state education fact book. There’s a lot of data in there, culled from many sources, but a few things stand out. For starters, there’s a question about the value of a North Carolina high school diploma, specifically about whether it tells anyone...

By Ray Gronberg

May 1, 2025

Senate offers Heels, Wolfpack a trade

Senate Republicans are willing to give the UNC Chapel Hill and NC State athletic programs a piece of North Carolina’s sports-wagering tax revenue pie — but at a price. If the caucus proposal becomes law, each would get an extra $55.9 million over the 2025-27 biennium, according to the so-called...

By Ray Gronberg

April 17, 2025

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