The North Carolina General Assembly has successfully passed a state budget which includes a $168 million increase to the University of North Carolina system’s budget. The now $2.8 billion budget includes unnecessary increases to nearly all campuses in the name of “enrollment growth” as explained by Jenna Robinson in today’s Pope Center piece.

North Carolina, like many states, relies on a needlessly complicated funding formula that includes very little scrutiny of the actual practices at the state’s universities. Robinson explains that “Essentially, universities add up their needs, subtract tuition revenues, and then report the difference to the legislature—which almost always funds the full amount.”

Of course, this leads to bloated administrative budgets and unscrutinized waste.

The only saving grace in the UNC budget stems from management flexibility cuts. These are cuts from the budget that are not determined by enrollment figures. This year, the UNC Board of Governors will allocate a total of $62.8 million in flex cuts across the system.

Once the universities are notified of their expected contribution to the flex cuts, they will examine low priority positions and programs to eliminate.

As Robinson points out, “Until a better formula for growth is adopted, ‘flex cuts’ are the best tool the legislature has to curb university excesses.”