The General Assembly instituted a twenty-five percent (25%) tuition surcharge (Section 89 (b), Senate Bill 27, 1993 Session). This surcharge is effective fall semester 1994 and applies to all new undergraduates seeking a baccalaureate degree. Specifically, it states,
"The Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina shall ensure that procedures are established that are necessary to impose a twenty-five percent (25%) tuition surcharge on students who take more than 140 degree credit hours to complete a baccalaureate degree in a four-year program or more than one hundred ten percent (110%) of the credit hours necessary to complete a baccalaureate degree in any program officially designated by the Board of Governors as a five-year program. The calculation of these credit hours taken at a constituent institution or accepted for transfer shall exclude hours earned through the College Board's Advanced Placement or CLEP examinations, through institutional advanced placement or course validation, or through summer term or extension programs. The Board shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by April 1, 1994, on its recommendations for implementing this surcharge."
The undergraduate credit hours to be counted in the calculation of the tuition surcharge, hereafter referred to as "Tuition Surcharge Hours," include:
- all semester (fall and spring semester) academic credit hours attempted (includes repeated course work, failed course work, and course work earning a "W" grade); and
- all transfer credit hours accepted by University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Excluded from Tuition Surcharge Hours are:
- College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) credit;
- College Level Examination Program (CLEP) or similar programs' credits;
- credit earned through any UNC Wilmington advanced placement, course validation or similar procedure;
- credit earned in summer sessions at UNC Wilmington or another UNC institution; and
- credit earned from an extension division of any UNC institution, including UNC Wilmington.
Students will be informed of the Tuition Surcharge Hours earned each semester and cumulatively in their tuition billing beginning with the fall semester 1995 report. Students may contact the Registrar's Office to obtain current information on their credit hours.
The tuition surcharge will be applied to undergraduate students enrolled in a degree program at UNC Wilmington as follows:
- For students earning a first baccalaureate degree in a program that requires no more than 128 credit hours, the surcharge shall be applied to all Tuition Surcharge Hours in excess of 140.
- For students earning a first baccalaureate degree in a UNC Board of Governors Board-approved program that requires more than 128 credit hours, the surcharge shall be applied to all Tuition Surcharge Hours that exceed 110 percent of the credit hours required for the degree. Such programs include those that have been officially designated by the Board of Governors as five-year programs as well as those involving double majors, or combined bachelor's/master's degrees.
- For students earning a baccalaureate degree other than their first, the surcharge shall be applied to all Tuition Surcharge Hours that exceed 110 percent of the minimum additional credit hours needed to earn the additional baccalaureate degree. The minimum additional credit hours will be determined at the time of admission to studies for the second or other baccalaureate degree.
The surcharge will be imposed in the fall or spring semester and in all subsequent semesters where a student's cumulative credit hour total exceeds the threshold. The surcharge does not apply to required fees.
