NCCPPR North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research

N.C. CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH WINS TOP NATIONAL AWARD

    The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research has won the most prestigious national award for high-quality policy research from the national Governmental Research Association (GRA).  GRA is a group of 33 public policy organizations in 22 states.

Highest Award for Outstanding Policy Achievement

    The Center won the highest award for Outstanding Policy Achievement, which goes to the policy group whose research leads to “tangible improvements in public policy.”  The Center was honored for its efforts in improving state policies on student financial aid in North Carolina’s community colleges and public universities.

    In April 2010, the Center testified about its research on financial aid policy before a legislative study committee called the Joint (N.C. House and Senate) Select Study Committee on State-Funded Student Financial Aid.  This study committee was charged with studying state financial aid policy in North Carolina’s 16 public universities and 37 private colleges and universities and reporting to the 2010 session of the N.C. General Assembly.  That group adopted many of the Center’s recommendations in its own recommendations to the 2010 session of the N.C. General Assembly.

    Of the Center’s nine recommendations for changes in state policy overall, five now have been enacted into law by both Democratic-majority and Republican-majority legislatures.

A.  In the 2010 Legislative Session

    1.  Dedicating 25 Percent of the Proceeds from 2010 Tuition Increases to Need-Based Financial Aid – The Center told the legislative study committee that tuition had been increased at North Carolina’s 16 public universities in 9 of the last 10 years for a total increase of 144 percent.  This was despite a unique provision in North Carolina’s Constitution that mandates that a university education, “as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.”  With yet another tuition increase authorized that year, the 2010 legislature enacted into law the Center’s recommendation that at least 25 percent of the proceeds from campus-initiated tuition increases be earmarked for need-based student financial aid.

   2.  Saving Taxpayers’ Money by Ending In-State Tuition for Out-of-State Athletes – In its testimony, the Center also recommended repealing the statute that gave in-state tuition to out-of-state athletes.  The 2010 legislature agreed and repealed the law, saving the state $15.5 million annually.  This was important because one of the criteria for the GRA award was not only changes in policy (like these five new laws), but also cost savings.

    3.  Making Federal Loans Available to More Students in N.C.’s Community Colleges – The Center won and lost and then won and partly lost again in a battle to require all community colleges to make federal loan programs available to their students.  Center researchers were shocked to find that 38 of North Carolina’s 58 community colleges did not make federal loan programs available to their students.  The study received statewide press coverage in 124 articles in 63 newspapers, 54 supporting editorials, 382 radio broadcasts, and nine TV news broadcasts.  They took that finding to the 2010 legislature, which agreed with the Center’s recommendation and passed a law that required all 58 community colleges to make federal loan programs available to their students, effective in 2011.  

However, in 2011, the legislature passed House Bill 7, which would have allowed all community colleges to opt out of offering federal loans to their students.  The Center then wrote Gov. Beverly Perdue and asked her to veto the bill.  The Center said that federal loans are the cheapest and safest way for students to borrow money for college.  Federal loans charge 4.5 percent interest compared to 16 percent for students who pay tuition with their credit cards.  The Center’s research showed that 177,000 more North Carolinians would be able to obtain a community college education if the 2010 requirement stood.  On April 13th, the Governor vetoed the bill, citing the Center’s research in her veto message.

However, the legislature then came back with a legally questionable tactic of dividing what had been a statewide bill into four local bills.  In most cases, a governor cannot veto local bills.  Those four local bills allow a total of 26 community colleges to opt out of offering federal student loans.  Regardless, at least 12 new schools will make federal loan programs available to 55,000 more community college students.

B.  In the 2011 Legislative Session

        4.  Consolidating Student Financial Aid and Loan Forgiveness Programs – In its study, the Center identified 14 different state programs that use financial aid to address work force shortages in such fields as teaching and nursing.  Students receiving loans under these programs have their loans forgiven if they work in the needed occupations in North Carolina.  However, parents and students find it difficult and confusing to apply for 14 different programs, so the Center recommended consolidating them.  The 2010 legislature created a Working Group on the Consolidation and Simplification of State Student Financial Aid Programs.  That group recommended consolidating 12 of the 14 programs that the Center identified into one program.  Senators Richard Stevens (R-Wake) and Don Vaughan (D-Guilford) sponsored successful legislation in the 2011 General Assembly to accomplish this.  This will be easier to administer and much simpler for parents and students.  

     5.  Helping Parents Save for College – The Center’s research also found that middle class families were about to lose access to a tax deduction that helps them be able to pay for college.  Families who are saving for a child’s college education in North Carolina’s Parental Savings Trust Fund or 529 College Savings Plan currently receive a deduction on their state income taxes, but this was scheduled to expire in January 2012.  This research prompted a successful effort by bill sponsor Sen. Fletcher Hartsell (R-Cabarrus) to repeal the expiration date and make the 529 Plan more attractive to parents.  In 2006, mutual fund evaluator Morningstar Inc. rated North Carolina’s 529 Plan as one of the worst in the country, and the state then ranked only 44th in citizens’ use of the savings plan.  But, with changes advocated by the Center and others, Morningstar already has raised North Carolina’s rating to “above average” and is likely to raise it even further now that the bill has become law. CNN’s Money Magazine now ranks the state’s 529 Plan as one of the top 3 in the country.  Because of the Center’s leadership in the successful 2011 legislation, Center staff were invited to the ceremony where the Governor signed the bill into law.

    Center attorney and editor Mebane Rash and Center director Ran Coble accepted the GRA award at the organization’s annual conference in Chicago.  The Center has won GRA awards in six of the last seven years.  Last year, its study of key issues affecting the aging and elderly won the top award for most effective education of the public.  

    “We are honored by this award,” said Center director Ran Coble.  “We want to thank legislators in both political parties in both the 2010 and 2011 legislative sessions who acted to improve financial aid policies for students and parents,” he added.  The Center singled out Republican Senators Richard Stevens (R-Wake) and Fletcher Hartsell (R-Cabarrus) and Democratic Senator Don Vaughan (D-Guilford) and Representative Ray Rapp (D-Madison), as well as Gov. Beverly Perdue, for their work on these issues.

About the Governmental Research Association

    The national Governmental Research Association is composed of 33 policy organizations in 22 states. GRA organizations span the country – from the Center for Governmental Research in New York and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation to the Washington State Research Council, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, and Citizens Research Council in Michigan.  The GRA holds a national conference each year that focuses on key policy issues facing state and local governments across the country.  It also conducts monthly Webinars and gives national awards, selected by independent panels, for policy studies that educate the public and improve public policy at both the state and local levels.  GRA organizations promote transparency in state and local budgets and provide information to citizens about the performance of government programs.