RALEIGH, N.C. – Officials with the UNC System says the system needs the ability to respond to sudden losses of revenue if needed.

System representatives told a state Senate panel that 12 of the system's 16 universities logged enrollment increases for the fall 2020 semester despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, eight of those campuses have set new enrollment records.

Still, Bart Goodson, the system's senior vice president for government relations, says officials want lawmakers to give them additional authority to cut salaries, offer early retirements, and let faculty and staff go if necessary. He says there are currently no plans to do any of those things and officials would want that authority to go away at the end of 2021.

“It's just simply allowing our campuses some flexibility that they don't have at the present to be able to react within a fiscal year, if necessary,” he said.

Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Haygood says due to the pandemic, system officials have narrower budget priorities than they normally do. She says officials are skipping their usual campus-specific requests and instead want to focus on core priorities such as raising salaries and completing existing capital projects.

Goodson says officials also want lawmakers to consolidate the UNC Need-based Grant, Education Lottery Grant, and Community College Grant into a single program for students and families in need.