A fund for fast-growing colleges could be cut.

Since the late 1990s, the University of North Carolina system has built up a reserve fund for state universities that were growing at a rapid rate.

That included the five historically black colleges, Elizabeth City State University, N.C. A&T, N.C. Central, Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State. Two others, UNC-Pembroke and Western Carolina, were also helped. 

"All had the capacity to grow at a rate greater then they would naturally," said UNC spokesman Rob Nelson. "The money was appropriated to accommodate the administrative costs of that — to help with infrastructure, administration and financial aid."

In all, Nelson said the fund had provided $30 million for the seven schools.

Gov. Beverly Perdue proposed cutting the annual $1.3 million appropriation in order to help balance next year's budget. 

Actors Shawn and Marlon Wayans will be visiting North Carolina colleges this weekend on behalf of Barack Obama.

Their mission - to get students registered to vote.

Obama's campaign announced today that the Wayans brothers will be part of a larger effort to get people registered by North Carolina's April 11 deadline.

The actors are scheduled to visit N.C. State, N.C. Central, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, N.C. A&T, UNC-Greensboro, Winston-Salem State and Wake Forest.

The UNC system could raise minimum standards to a 2.0 GPA and a 700 SAT score by 2009.

The requirements were debated by the UNC Board of Governors Thursday.

The new standards would affect Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, N.C. A&T, N.C. Central, Winston-Salem State and UNC-Pembroke, all of which were founded to serve minority students.

The proposal is part of a broader effort to prevent dropouts by only admitting students who are prepared for a four-year college.

"Higher admission standards, we think, are a plus for the university and a plus for the kids," said UNC President Erskine Bowles. (N&O)

A House committee tinkered with the state budget for about nine hours Wednesday.

The Appropriations committee made dozens of changes to the $20.3 billion budget, which will head to the House floor for a vote today.

Among the cuts: Money for Winston-Salem State, Johnson & Wales University, a Greensboro museum and drag-racing hall of fame.

House Speaker Joe Hackney praised the final product:

"I think we have a pretty clean budget," he said. (AP)

In all over 90 budget amendments were proposed, and 53 were adopted. The third edition of the bill is now available online here. (N.C. Bill Drafting)

Forget about U.S. News & World Report's college rankings for a moment.

For those in North Carolina's higher education system, there are two lists that are more important: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

Both have provided lists of peers for North Carolina colleges that could be used to determine whether professors are getting comparable salaries to their colleagues.

A study by the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy*, which used the Carnegie peers, found that some North Carolina schools were doing just fine.

But those same colleges do worse when compared with the National Center's peers.

For a full discussion of the difference, click "Read More."

* Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the foundation which funded the survey. The analyst works for the John Locke Foundation, but the study was done for the Pope Center.

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Professors at N.C. Central get paid well, but those at UNC-Asheville might want to ask for a raise.

That's according to a study of higher education salaries released today by the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy*.

The study found that salaries for all faculty at four state colleges — N.C. Central, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Pembroke and Winston-Salem State — are at least 80 percent of those at similar colleges.

But some professors at Elizabeth City State and N.C. State and all UNC-Asheville and N.C. A&T faculty were below the mean and median levels of their colleagues at other schools.

Foundation analyst Jon Sanders said he looked at the pay scale in part to see if there is a "brain drain" at state colleges. He said the study alone would not answer the question.

"If there is a brain drain, it's not owing to salaries," he said.

The House budget proposal calls for a 2.5 percent salary increase and a one-time $400 bonus for state college professors.

* Correction: An earlier version of the post misstated the group which funded the survey. Jon Sanders works for the John Locke Foundation, but the study was done for the Pope Center.