After weeks of proposals, it’s finally official — ASU students will pay a tuition surcharge and student health fee next year.

The Arizona Board of Regents approved a $510 per year surcharge for in-state ASU students and $710 per year surcharge for out-of-state ASU students at its meeting Thursday at UA. Regents also voted to limit the surcharge to one year, meaning it only applies for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Additionally, ASU will set aside 22 percent of the surcharge money for need-based financial aid.

Student Regent David Martinez III, one of only two regents to vote against surcharges at ASU, said that while he still opposes the surcharges, he was pleased that the costs came down.

“I am very proud of that fact,” he said. “[But] I’m not proud of the fact that at the end of the day, it means more money out of the students’ pockets.”

The final numbers came less than one day after ASU announced that it lowered its proposed surcharge to $600 per year from $1,200 for in-state students.

Regents also approved a $766 per year surcharge for in-state UA students — down from $1,100 — and a $422 per year surcharge for in-state NAU students. The cost for NAU students remained the same as previously proposed, but regents combined a proposed technology fee with the surcharge, meaning the fees will expire along with the surcharge.

ABOR spokeswoman Andrea Smiley said in an e-mail that the surcharges are temporary and will last for one year, until June 2010.

The additional reductions came as a result of federal stimulus projections by ABOR staff, Smiley said. The models suggested that stimulus money coming into each university would be enough to lower their surcharge requests, so the numbers were reduced.

Martinez said Gov. Jan Brewer, who attended the meeting, played a big part in reducing tuition surcharges.

“She played a large role in making sure the federal stimulus monies are spent in the ways they should be spent,” he said, referring to a requirement that stimulus dollars be used to offset tuition increases as much as possible.

Brewer said she would commit $280 million to the university system, Martinez said, which rose from earlier expectations of $240 million.

“That’s a substantial jump on her part,” he said.

Randy Pullen, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, released a statement on Thursday morning, before regents voted. The statement said that UA and ASU should make cuts from administration instead of charging students and families.

“While their proposal to cut the surcharge is a good step forward, the proposal to slam students at ASU with an “economic recovery surcharge” is absurd,” Pullen said in the statement. “For once, I would like to see just a few of the many college vice presidents take one for the team.”

After the regents’ vote, a spokesman for the Arizona Republican Party said the chairman stood by his remarks.

The Arizona Students’ Association also opposed the surcharges, saying an increase in tuition is unfair to students and families who have already made plans to attend Arizona universities.

“While the surcharges could have been much higher, this still makes college more expensive,” ASA board chair Michael Slugocki said in a statement released Thursday. “I’m fearful that some students won’t be able to come back to our universities next fall as a result.”

In addition to the surcharge, regents approved an $80 health fee for ASU students, which will be controlled by a student health board.

The health board was also authorized at the meeting to work with student governments, administration and regents in overseeing the money from the fee.

Martinez said the health board and the lowered surcharge numbers showed the power of the student voice in Arizona.

“I never expected when I began my term as student regent that I would be playing such an active role in setting tuition,” he said. “But I think it shows the power of students today that we were able to cut President Crow’s proposal in half — and then get a number even lower than that.”

Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu.