Free UNC Tuition Keeps Graduates in the State?

That belief is reportedly one reason the North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill in 2003 creating a tuition waiver to UNC schools for graduates of Durham’s North Carolina School of Science and Math. But in a policy report released this week by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, authors George Leef and Shannon Blosser criticized the waiver for being discriminatory. “I don’t see that there’s any justification for it,” Leef told the Associated Press. “It gives some people an advantage that isn’t available to anyone else.” The report also notes that when a college graduate reviews job offers, it is improbable that a decision would be made to stay in the state simply because he or she graduated from the UNC system. The story appeared in the Raleigh News & Observer, the Wilmington Star and the Durham Herald-Sun. NCSSM’s President, Gerald Boarman, responded quickly to the report in a letter to the editor of the N&O, writing in part: “It is inflammatory, based on unsubstantiated generalities, undocumented sources and gross inaccuracies. The report is nothing more than a thinly veiled effort to discredit the institution under the guise of looking out for the taxpayer.” The report is posted at the Pope Center web site.