UNC system president committed to keeping in-state tuition in reach
More of my interview with Hans (in which he talks about each of the UNC System campuses in the Piedmont Triad: UNC-Greensboro, North Carolina A&T, Winston-Salem State and UNC School of the Arts) is presented below.
(WGHP) — You'd be surprised what goes through your head when anchoring live daily newscasts.
Sometimes, the stories you read trigger memories of stories you've done over the years or people you've met. This happened to me a little more than two weeks ago.
During our 5 p.m. newscast, I read the story of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors naming Kevin Howell the new chancellor of North Carolina State University. The appointment, in and of itself, was history-making: N.C. State's first black chancellor, a 1988 N.C. State graduate who—during his time in Raleigh—served as the university's first Black student body president.
After I processed that significance and finished reading the story, I thought, 'Wow, I bet today's been a busy one for Peter Hans.' I had interviewed him a few days before.
Hans is the University of North Carolina System president. I knew he—per state law—had to nominate Howell to the UNC Board of Governors from a list of candidates recommended by N.C. State's board of trustees.
It would be hard to name a more powerful and influential person when it comes to education in North Carolina than he. Practically everything that has the letter combination 'UNC' in its name falls under his watch.
This includes all 17 UNC institutions. All the chancellors answer to him, and he answers to the board of governors whose members are elected by the North Carolina General Assembly. UNC Health, East Carolina Health, PBS North Carolina, the North Carolina Education Assistance Authority, UNC Press, even the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville are UNC 'affiliates' he oversees.
Talk about coming a long way from a young man who grew up in a modest family in two small North Carolina towns (At age 8, he moved from Southport south of Wilmington to Hendersonville just south of Asheville when his parents retired.) He would become the first person in his family to graduate college (UNC-Chapel Hill.)
'I do believe (growing up modestly in a small town) has affected my decision making for the better because I haven't lost sight of my 'raisins,'' he told me during that recent interview in the home in Chapel Hill that's been the residence of UNC presidents since 1907.
'I'm in touch with all sorts of folks, family, friends and strangers who related to that experience. As a first-generation college graduate (I know) that as families struggle to make ends meet, we have to keep a UNC System education well within their reach. It has to be accessible, and it has to be high quality.'
It's among the main reasons Hans has made it a priority to keep in-state undergraduate tuition at all UNC campuses 'within reach.' The board of governors has now kept that tuition flat the last 9 years, and Hans is determined to keep it that way.
There are tangible signs it's paying off.
'Our enrollment is up. Our retention is up. Our graduation (rate) is up,' he told me. Fewer UNC students are borrowing money. 'That's because funding is up. Private support is up. Research is up.'
But controlling the amount of money coming in is tough when inflation's done a number on food and housing costs. Plus, you need to pay faculty members competitive salaries to keep them and maintain quality.
'We exercise a great deal of leadership and management in driving down costs where we can so that we're not passing that along to those students and their families,' he said. '(And) when out-of-state students come to North Carolina we're asking them to pay a little more because, of course, it's the sons and daughters of North Carolina, their families have paid for the university. But we want many of those (out-of-state) students to stay in North Carolina and add to the talent pool.'
Hans is also aware federal money for education appears to be shrinking.
The Trump administration's ordered a 15% cap on National Institutes of Health funding. UNC-Chapel Hill got about $531 million in NIH funding last year. At this writing, this issue is still making its way through the court system, and Hans is watching it closely.
'There are tremendous breakthroughs that come from NIH research,' he told me. '(But) I think at the same time having a conversation about the costs, how it's funded, what it means to American competitiveness, I hope one positive thing might come from this.'
Then there are the calls to eliminate the United States Department of Education which—among other things—oversees federal student loans.
'My primary concern at this point is the protection of those student financial aid programs that are housed in the federal department of education,' he said. 'Now I have heard the president and (Education) Secretary (Linda) McMahon express a desire to locate those student financial aid programs in the Federal Department of the Treasury or send some of those existing programs back to the states.'
'Now that (sending programs back to the states) is something we would have to adapt to, but we certainly would. But I want to maintain the ability of students to be able to benefit from programs like Pell Grants.'
Needless to say, I couldn't have a conversation about costs with Hans without talking about the fact the institution from which both of us have undergraduate degrees (UNC-Chapel Hill) agreed last year to pay its football coach $50 million over five years.
'Guaranteed for three years!' Hans interrupted as I was asking the question.
'It's a lot of money no matter how you look at it,' he went on to tell me.
But Hans argues athletics are crucial parts of the college education experience.
I agree. In fact, if you were to ask me to name my top five college experiences, UNC-Chapel winning the national basketball championship in 1982 when I was a student would be at or near the top.
That, of course, was before UNC paid its coaches millions upon millions of dollars. But times have changed.
Hans points out football and basketball financially support all the more than 25 non-revenue sports at UNC-Chapel Hill. (Think baseball, field hockey, and women soccer.) 'In order to maintain those non-revenue sports, you've got to bring in money. Well how can you bring in money? Well, put people in the stands, get better TV contracts, win games.'
Add that to the fact today's best college football and basketball players expect to be paid for their names, images and likenesses, the pressure to pay high-dollar coaches to win games is real and challenging.
'If people say to me 'well, I don't like it and we ought not to do it' that's not an option,' Hans said. 'That horse left the barn many years ago. So you either participate to try to play at a competitive level or you go back to what is essentially intramural sports. And there's nothing wrong with that. But that's not going to be interesting to so many basketball or football fans in North Carolina. They want to see competitive games.'
You get the feeling I'm going to be thinking about Peter Hans a lot more while I anchor future newscasts.
To read more about the University of North Carolina System, click here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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