With a severe budget crisis and record enrollment numbers, officials across Arizona recognize a need for change in the state’s university system.

The Arizona Board of Regents voted unanimously on Friday to endorse Gov. Jan Brewer’s five-point plan for Arizona’s economic recovery. One day earlier, Brewer urged regents to reform the university system’s business model.

“I firmly believe our economic future is incumbent upon your success,” Brewer told the regents, according to a statement released Thursday. “These incredible challenges we face today should be viewed as an opportunity to make the big changes we need for the future.”

Brewer left specifics out of her call to action but said she wants to see a new business plan by this fall that is accountable, predictable and affordable to students, parents and taxpayers.

While 82 percent of Arizona’s incoming federal stimulus dollars will go toward K-12 and higher education, Brewer warned that the money will only help — not solve — the university system’s budget problems.

“I bring to you today my personal commitment as your governor to utilize and apply federal stimulus dollars … in a way that can best mitigate the impacts of today’s proposals to dramatically increase tuition,” she said. “But with that commitment, I require your commitment to the development of a long-term plan to reform your business model.”

Regents voted to endorse Brewer’s plan for Arizona’s recovery, of which higher-education reform is only a portion, with some regents citing the entire plan as a step in the right direction for the state’s universities.

The governor’s plan calls in part for restructuring Arizona’s budget, modernizing state agencies and increasing taxes.

This means a revitalized state and university system will make Arizona more competitive, said Regent Dennis DeConcini, a former U.S. senator.

“It isn’t exactly the way I would have done it, but it’s a very forward-looking step and something that many didn’t think this governor would be offering,” he said. “It’s a very positive thing that someone in a leadership position like her is, in my opinion, responding to the needs of this state.”

DeConcini said he would have liked to see more specifics with regard to higher education in the governor’s plan, but added that she may still be putting the details together herself or she might ask the board of regents to do so.

As for a new business model, regents have been developing a strategic plan to update the university system by 2020. The board expected to have the plans ready by the end of this calendar year, but DeConcini said Brewer’s request that the plans be ready by fall should speed up the process.

The regents’ plan looks to double the amount of four-year degrees awarded in Arizona during the next 11 years while looking at all options necessary to fund this growth.

The idea is to look at how the goals can be accomplished with or without state funding and still remain affordable, DeConcini said.

“One of the things is to have … colleges separate from the main [universities] that would not have a campus environment,” he said, referring to ASU President Michael Crow’s proposed four-year state colleges across Arizona. “You would have faculty, classes, meeting rooms, … a place to study or a library, but you wouldn’t have all this other stuff.”

Small campuses without intensive research facilities, recreation complexes or student unions would keep maintenance costs down, he said, allowing more students to attend with lower tuition than the main universities.

In many cases, existing campuses like ASU West and UA South in Sierra Vista, Ariz., already operate similarly to the proposed four-year state colleges, said Regent Fred Boice, ABOR president.

These campuses offer basic student services without supporting research, he said, so the models to start more accessible and affordable state colleges are already in place.

To further address Brewer’s plans, Boice said the university system must examine excessive duplication within the system to make sure each university is as efficient as possible.

Boice said Arizona has essentially had the same three higher education institutions since 1912.

“They’re very different than they were then, but [there are] still just three,” he said.

With projections of enrollment at 185,000 students in the next 11 years, there is a definite need for the kinds of changes Brewer mentioned, he said.

What that change will ultimately look like, however, may not be so definite.

“My crystal ball is a little foggy,” Boice said. “[But] you bet it’s going to change.

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