(The Center Square) – Tuition for out of state undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill was increased during Thursday’s meeting of the Board of Governors.

Costs remain the same for in-state students in the entire university system. It marked the ninth straight year without a tuition increase for in-state undergraduate students, Andy Wallace, spokesman for the university system, told The Center Square.

“UNC System is the only system in the country able to say that,” Wallace said.

The increases approved Thursday will bring the out-of-state tuition at Chapel Hill to $43,152. The revenue from the increase would be used for faculty and staff retention, academic support, campus safety, and to “offset the inflationary impacts on contracted services,” according to the university system.

Chapel Hill received 51,181 first-year applications from out-of-state residents for admission in the fall of 2024, according to the university system.

Only 18% of first-year slots at Chapel Hill are available for out-of-state and international students, leaving 82% for in-state residents.

The university system governing board also kept tuition the same – $500 per semester – at Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University in the NC Promise program.

The NC Promise Program has “increased educational access, reduced student debt, and grown the state’s economy,” the university system says on its website.

The percentage of bachelor’s degree students in the UNC System with federal loan debt at graduation is actually dropping, Wallace added. It has gone from 61.2% in 2018-19 to 49.9% in 2023-24, the spokesman said.

In their request for tuition increases this year for out of state students and some in-state graduate students, North Carolina universities cited inflation as a factor.

Appalachian State, for example, was approved Thursday for a 3% increase for both in- and out-of-state graduate students and all out-of-state undergraduates.

“Revenues resulting from this increase will be used to offset the impacts of inflation on supplies, materials, and services, to invest in classroom equipment and technology, and to provide for new faculty and academic advisor positions to support the growing student population at the Boone and Hickory campuses,” a university system document states.

U.S. senators, including a former astronaut, want to make outer space safer.

They’ve introduced a bipartisan bill to help track space junk in low Earth orbit and increase international collaboration in space. The legislation, called the Situational Awareness of Flying Elements in Orbit Act or SAFE, would create a public database for tracking satellites and other objects in an increasingly commercially-operated sector. 

“As the commercial space industry continues to grow, we need to safely track and manage objects in orbit to prevent collisions,” said former NASA astronaut and current U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona.

“I’ve had to directly deal with the consequences of orbital debris, and I know it’s critical we provide the tools to empower scientists and innovators to successfully explore this critical frontier and strengthen American leadership in space,” Kelly said in a news release. 

The SAFE bill would develop a public database to track satellites and prevent high-speed incidents in low-Earth orbit – the section of space within 1,200 miles of Earth where the International Space Station, as well as 10,000 satellites, operate.

The U.S. government, operating through the Office of Space Commerce, would be immune from legal action for use of this tracking data. 

As commercial activity increases in low-Earth orbit, the potential for collision between satellites grows.

Thousands of defunct satellites are joined in this space by an estimated 100 million small pieces of debris, according to Siamak Hesar, co-founder and CEO of Kayhan Space. Hesar has supported NASA missions as a flight dynamics engineer and space situational awareness specialist.

In the coming years, these numbers of objects in low-Earth orbit are expected to skyrocket and create a dangerous and costly field of high-speed space traffic. Hesar said low-Earth orbit congestion will likely increase substantially.

“Commercial space objects in low-Earth orbit can help scientists make new discoveries and spur technological innovation, but this hinges on the ability to conduct safe and effective space traffic coordination,” said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “The SAFE Orbit Act would prevent dangerous and costly accidental collisions in low-Earth orbit and improve access to data collection and analysis to help propel the United States into the next phase of space exploration.”

Supporters of the SAFE bill have highlighted how it would strengthen U.S. presence in space.

“The world is entering a new space race, and we must equip American innovators with every resource to win,” said U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee.

But the bill also encourages international cooperation to share satellite data and help the public database track as many objects as possible.

“As we enter this new frontier, we must be certain that we prioritize safety and coordination with our partners around the globe,” Blackburn said.

Besides senators from Arizona, Texas and Tennessee, the bill is being introduced by U.S. Sens. Gary Peters, D-Michigan; Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri; Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi; Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico, and John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado.

(The Center Square) – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced a bill to use image technicians to ebb the flow of drugs smuggled into the United States from the southern border. 

The Border Enforcement, Security and Trade Facilitation Act of 2025 comes amid increased conversation around border security in President Donald Trump’s second term, and in response to high-profile drug busts on the southern border. It would create technician jobs in border security for five years, but with no clear plan for the future.

The bill is sponsored by U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona; James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, and John Cornyn, R-Texas.

“Customs and Border Protection needs more trained personnel to stop illegal drugs, weapons and human smuggling from entering our country,” Kelly said in a statement this week. “By adding image technicians to identify threats at ports of entry, we’re giving law enforcement another essential tool to secure the border while keeping trade flowing.”

It is unclear exactly what impact the technology would have on smuggling of drugs or other illicit goods. The bill also left out the program’s cost. Kelly’s press office did not respond to a request for comment from The Center Square on either of these issues. 

Nearly 1,000 pounds of fentanyl – the drug that has become the center point of the substance abuse issue in the U.S. in recent years – was seized along the southwestern border in January 2025. It was the month’s lowest tally since 2022.

“Adding more personnel at ports of entry will immediately provide our country with another layer of security to prevent traffickers from smuggling weapons or drugs across the border,” said Lankford. “Border law enforcement has repeatedly asked for more support to analyze cargo images in real time, so this bill also gives them tools they need to catch criminals and secure our border.”

The program would run for five years, starting from when the bill is passed. No details have yet come out about next steps for the program or the image technicians it would employ.