Opinion
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Athletic scholarships
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Published: September 10, 2009
North Carolina taxpayers are being bilked when it comes to out-of-state scholarship athletes on UNC campuses. Taxpayers are subsidizing these students at a cost of $10 million a year, and, to make matters worse, the athletes are taking UNC seats that should go to in-state students.
Late in the 2005 legislative session, Senate leaders slipped a provision into the state budget. It said that when full scholarships are granted to out-of-state students, they shall be counted as in-state students. That provision had three consequences. First, the foundations that support the scholarships saved a lot of money on every out-of-state student granted a scholarship. The foundations say that this has allowed them to increase the number of scholarships they provide.
Second, taxpayers pay the difference between the real cost of educating a student and the amount paid in tuition. So, the state subsidy grew.
Third, the out-of-staters -- now considered in-state -- have not been counted against the 18 percent cap on non-resident admissions to each UNC school's freshman class.
Many of the scholarships are academic in nature, and they have not been controversial. Luring top-quality students to UNC schools has proven a good investment.
But athletic scholarships have been controversial. McClatchy Newspapers report that the subsidy has reached $10 million a year for athletes alone. Efforts have been made in recent legislative sessions to repeal the provision, but strong lobbying by influential supporters, especially those from UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State, and the strong backing of Sens. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, and Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, have defeated those efforts.
In 2005, supporters said that the provision was not an end run on the 18 percent out-of-state student cap. But that is exactly what it has been. At UNC Chapel Hill, the incoming freshman class has grown by 200 students since 2005. Of them, 180 are out-of-state students, only 20 in-state. Rather than being capped at 18 percent, the outsider share of the latest UNC-CH class is almost 21 percent.
Taxpayers shouldn't be supporting intercollegiate athletics and the monstrous salaries paid to coaches. But that is what is happening here. Given this huge taxpayer subsidy for scholarships, more private money can be spent on million-dollar coaches.
Furthermore, the seats these athletes take should come from the 18 percent already reserved for non-residents, not from those reserved for in-state students. Students who barely missed being admitted to the UNC school of their choice must wonder if some swimmer from Ohio has taken their seat.
When the legislature reconvenes in May, it should repeal this provision and end what has become both financial and academic pilferage of state taxpayers.
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