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NCSSM grads get in-state tuition offer
The N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, the state's premier two-year residential school, has a new enticement for applicants -- free tuition to state universities.
State
budget blends increases, cuts in education funding
Educators, students and parents say the $14.8 billion budget state leaders
approved this week offers mixed messages.
League's
official unveiling offered a few surprises
The Unlikely Union
NCSSM grads get in-state tuition offer
July 3, 2003
The News & Observer
By Lynn Bonner, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.
The N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, the state's premier two-year residential school, has a new enticement for applicants -- free tuition to state universities.
Beginning with next year's graduates, the state will pay for four years of college at any of the 16 schools in the University of North Carolina system.
Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat and a fan of the school, is the force behind the tuition grants. It is thought to be the only program of its kind in the state.
For months, Hagan promoted it to her colleagues as a way to keep Science and Math grads in the state after graduation. Then, she used her influence as a chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee to get the idea inserted into the $14.8 billion budget, where it cleared the General Assembly on Monday.
The tuition costs are based on an estimate of $3,000 a year a student for 200 graduates, or $600,000 in the first year. When the program is fully implemented, it would cost $2.4 million a year.
The tuition grants also will help Science and Math attract new students, Hagan said. "I think it will help recruiting going forward tremendously," she said.
Academically talented students drawn from throughout the state spend their junior and senior years at the school, on the campus of the former Watts Hospital in Durham. About 260 students a year graduate from the school, and most of them already end up going to universities in North Carolina . From 1998 to 2003, UNC-Chapel Hill was students' top destination, followed by N.C. State University.
At least one UNC school, N.C. Central University in Durham, began offering free tuition to the school's graduates on its own a few years ago.
"Hopefully, they're going to stay in North Carolina and contribute," said Ed McBride, the high school's director of operations. "So far, our graduates are doing it."
Matt Tepper, student body president at UNC-Chapel Hill, said he likes the idea of easing students' tuition burden, but he questioned helping a few students attend free when everyone else pays more. Tuition will jump 5 percent at UNC schools this year.
"I think it's poor timing, when everybody's tuition is increasing," Tepper said. He hopes that the tuition program evolves over time to "be a little more evenly distributed." The four-year grant to attend UNC-Chapel Hill would be $11,800, based on current tuition.
Jon Dougherty, a 2001 Science and Math graduate who attends UNC-Chapel Hill, said the free tuition offer is "incredible," even though it's coming too late to benefit him. He was surprised, though, that the legislature agreed to the grants, because he's more familiar with "disgruntled talk" about the school among state leaders.
"Some folks feel like a lot of money is being spent for a few amount of people," said Dougherty. "I never would have seen that coming, ever."
Hagan said she encountered some resistance from legislators when she first started working on getting the grants, but she said she convinced her colleagues that the money was a sound investment in the state's promising science and math talent.
Senate leader Marc Basnight supported the idea, she said.
"I think it's one of the best things we've got in the budget," Hagan said.
The grants could help sway students who face the choice of attending a high school near home and graduating at the top of their class or going to Science and Math and being one of many smart students.
Richard Schlaefer of Atlantic Beach said his son, Peter, had a tough time deciding whether to apply to Science and Math or stay at West Carteret High School, where he would have been a front-runner for a Morehead scholarship at UNC-Chapel Hill or a Park scholarship at NCSU. Those scholarships pay for tuition and includes the costs of a laptop computer and summer enrichment programs. "That's a very real issue, and we knew that going in," Schlaefer said.
His son weighed the pros and cons so carefully that he had to fax his application to Science and Math to meet the deadline, Schlaefer said. After graduating last year, the son attends the University of Chicago on an athletics scholarship. If the tuition grants had been around then, going to Science and Math would have been an easier decision.
"The likelihood of not getting the Park or the Morehead would not have been such a big deal," Schlaefer said. "He almost didn't go, but by spring break of his junior year, he said, 'I really can't believe there was a time I considered not going to Science and Math.' "
Staff writer Lynn Bonner can be reached at 829-4821.
State budget blends increases, cuts in education funding
July 3, 2003
Publication
By Kerra Bolton Fisher, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 Asheville Citizen-Times.
RALEIGH - Educators, students and parents say the $14.8 billion budget state leaders approved this week offers mixed messages.
The spending plan calls for teacher pay raises, performance bonuses and more money for poor school systems. But the budget also cuts money for middle school vocational programs and support jobs such as teacher assistants, custodians and clerks.
"The message is certainly confusing," said Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Cliff Dodson. "The superintendents went on record saying to the state, `please don't add new programs when you can't pay for the ones you have.' To me, it defies logic to add in one area and take away from another."
Consequences
Public schools, community colleges and state universities commanded $8.4 billion, the largest share of state expenditures. Broken down among the three institutions, that's $6 billion for public schools, $660 million for community colleges and $1.8 billion for state universities.
Teachers will receive an incremental pay raise. State lawmakers allocated $96 million for performance bonuses for teachers amid concerns that new federal reforms would make it difficult for school systems to qualify for the bonuses.
Poor school systems will receive an extra $5 million. Lawmakers retreated from plans to cut a program that helps students with limited English-speaking skills. Many school systems across the state will hire new second-grade teachers as a result of Gov. Mike Easley's efforts to lower class sizes in early elementary grades.
Lawmakers cut $8 million for seventh-grade vocational education teachers. Cuts for teacher assistants, assistant principals, custodians and clerks also remained in the budget.
School systems will also have to manage a statewide cut of $44.2 million. For Buncombe County Schools, that could mean losing between $850,000 and $1 million.
"Anytime you cut custodial or clerk positions it means that someone else has to take care of those things," said Susan Van Tassel, who has two children attending Reynolds High School. "They also want to implement No Child Left Behind (federal education reforms). I don't know how they're supposed to accomplish that with less money."
Buncombe County Schools could lose about three vocational education teachers for this year and the entire program for seventh-graders could be cut next year.
"If the cuts are taken at the middle school level, we'll be losing very important exploratory programs, as well as some keyboarding and computer technology classes," said Leland Blankenship, the director of vocation education for Buncombe County Schools. "That's a massive blow."
Community colleges
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College received an $814,000 windfall from the state. That money will be used with money from the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners to rehabilitate the college's Enka campus. The campus will contain a resource for small businesses and biotechnology companies interested in coming to the area.
"With the downturn in manufacturing, we are looking for good-paying jobs to replace the loss of manufacturing jobs," said K. Ray Bailey, A-B Tech president. "We have targeted biotechnology companies because it's a natural fit for this area and it will yield good-paying jobs."
Community colleges across the state received $32 million to accommodate expected increases in student enrollment. But that money could be overshadowed by a 3.2 percent increase in tuition.
"I'm always concerned about increasing tuition because the very people we are trying to help the most are the ones who are trying to work and come to college at the same time," Bailey said. "They are not often eligible for a federal financial aid package. We are working hard to have scholarship money available to help those folks."
Universities
Western Carolina University and UNC Asheville received $300,000 each for joint degree engineering programs with UNC- Charlotte and N.C. State University, respectively.
The money comes after a study released earlier this year, which concluded Western North Carolina couldn't sustain independent engineering programs. But the study recommended the schools beef up their joint degree programs.
Electrical engineering will be the focus of Western Carolina's program. UNC Asheville will amplify its combined mechanical and electrical engineering program it currently offers with N.C. State. Both programs will be available to students starting in the fall of 2004.
But the 5 percent tuition increase makes it difficult for Western Carolina to compete with similar schools in Georgia and South Carolina for out-of-state students, who make up 10 percent to 12 percent of the student body, said Chuck Wooten, the school's vice chancellor for administration and finance.
"They'll be paying as much as $500 or more (tuition increase)," Wooten said. "In comparing our out-of-state costs with peer institutions, we are overpriced."
But for UNCA students, the increase amounts to about $40 per semester or $80 a year. Tuition has increased consistently over the past few years, said Casey Crowley, 20, a rising UNCA senior.
"In the grand scheme of things, it's not a tremendous increase," Crowley said. "The caliber of education I'm receiving is well worth the price. But it's kind of hard for me to see the public education we're trying to provide become less and less accessible."
Contact Fisher at (919) 833-7352.
League's official unveiling offered a few surprises
July 3, 2003
The Charlotte Observer
By Gregg Doyel, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The Charlotte Observer.
The Unlikely Union
Imagine N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox putting her career on the line in an attempt to save the athletics programs at North Carolina.
That's basically what happened with Casteen, who bullied the ACC into substituting Virginia Tech for Boston College and Syracuse.
"We're deeply grateful to John Casteen, who has worked tremendously for us, seeking the best outcome for Virginia Tech," said John Rocovich, rector of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
N.C. PCOs and Homeowners Warned About Formosan Termite Presence
July 2, 2003
Pest Control Technology Online
By staff report
© Copyright 2003 PCT.
RALEIGH — The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Structural Pest Control Division is alerting homeowners and pest control operators in the Spindale and Ruth areas of Rutherford County to a potential new threat to their homes – Formosan subterranean termites.
“We have had isolated infestations of this imported pest throughout the past 15 years, but the recent number of infestations indicate this pest is now established in the Spindale area, and possibly in the neighboring community of Ruth,” said Carl Falco, director of the Structural Pest Control Division. “These aggressively destructive pests can cause substantial damage to a home in as little as a year, so we are advising homeowners and pest control operators in these areas to be on the lookout for their presence.
“Our division will be conducting a survey of the area, and once complete will develop a map of the locations of this pest in the county. We ask residents or pest control operators to contact us at (919) 733-6100 if you see evidence of this termite so we will be able to track the spread,” Falco said.
NCDA&CS has worked collaboratively with a local pest control company and N.C. State University entomologist Dr. Michael Waldvogel in monitoring this area for infestation.
Light traps had been set out and monitored at some sites but established infestations had not been detected. About 10 years ago their presence in the town of Spindale was confirmed by NCSU through specimens collected by local pest control operator David Spillman of Goforth Services Inc. That structure was successfully treated and there had been no further evidence of the pest until two weeks ago when Spillman located several trees infested by Formosan termites. A follow-up inspection and survey of the area with Dr. Waldvogel and NCDA&CS inspector Larry Conner revealed numerous infested trees and landscape timbers along a walking trail between the towns of Spindale and Ruth.
Area homeowners and pest control operators should pay particular attention to termite infestations that are difficult to control. These may prove to be Formosan termites, which are significantly more aggressive and destructive than native subterranean termites.
“Native species of termites generally feed on dead trees and processed wood,” Falco said. “However, Formosan termites have a horrific appetite and can use new food sources as long as there is a water source nearby. Their diets consist of anything that contains wood fiber, such as homes, buildings and live trees, as well as crops and plants.”
Homeowners and pest control operators who believe they have encountered this pest are asked to contact the Structural Pest Control Division at (919) 733-6100.