UNC exploring semi-private model

[xiggi]

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Public universities have a mandate to support the public good and be accessible to the public. The university is meant to serve the people of North Carolina. I think it would be awful to see this wonderful resource become privatized. Privatization is tantamount to exclusion of people based on parent’s income level. Is this what we want from our (largely federally supported) public education system? A place where the children of wealthy people go for maturation. The reason that our university system attracts people from every country in the world is that it is a meritocracy where the best and brightest go to develop knowledge. I would expect that privatization of public universities would exacerbate the already substantial gap between the lower classes and the upper classes.

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<p>Perhaps not what we want … but isn’t UNC-CH already doing so? With a max of 18% OOS, the school is already subsiziding the … higher and high-middle class. </p>

<p>In fact, as a private university, UNC might be better equipped to support the lower class with generous need-based aid all the while raising fees and tuition in general. </p>

<p>But, this is really not about the really rich or the really poor … or is it?</p>