The newly agreed upon $10.6 billion Arizona state budget plan is on its way to the Governor's office and if approved could mean reduced class sizes, increased financial aid, and additional faculty for ASU.
Devin Mauney, former Board chair of the Arizona Student Association, an organization that advocates the affordability of higher education, worked with state legislators this past session to obtain funding for the Arizona Financial Aid Trust.
"As far as legislative funding, you can always hope for better than what actually turns out because it's hard to get universities funded here in Arizona," Mauney said.
"Overall, it looks like the outcome will be good for ASU."
According to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee's Web site, the agreement between the house and the senate allots more than $540 million of the state budget for ASU operating costs. That figure includes $4.6 million dedicated for hiring new faculty, $3.8 million to hire additional faculty for the purpose of reducing class sizes, and $500,000 for computing and student service advancements.
New additional funds totaling $16.7 million were designated for ASU's Tempe campus projected enrollment growth during the fiscal year 2008. The JLBC's website provides a formula that dictates for every 22 new ASU students, the university needs one additional faculty member as well as additional supporting staff. The budget also allows for enrollment growth at ASU's other campuses, allocating $1.4 million in enrollment growth for the downtown campus, $2.6 million for ASU West and $6.3 million for ASU's polytechnic campus.
The budget lays out $29.8 million for student and faculty retention state wide. With ASU's $15.1 million cut of that, the university can use this fund to increase stipends for faculty and graduate teaching assistants. This fund also helps generate more course sections, the goal of which is aimed at reducing class sizes. Enhancing student advising and funding for ASU's proposed new enrollment management system are also covered by the student and faculty retention budget.
"This was a relatively good year," Mauney said. "If nothing changes, the Arizona Financial Aid Trust will be fully funded."
The legislature will fund two to one of student contributions, Mauney said. That means students pay a 10 percent fee on their tuition towards financial aid and the legislature will pay twice that figure.
Mauney said the ASA made several contributions in effort to get the AFAT program fully funded.
"We started out with a lobby day down at the capital early in the session where we brought students from all three universities together," Mauney said. "We had a lot of students there who could tell their own stories about why college affordability was important."
The ASA also held a large rally and march on the capitol lawn, Mauney said. The organization also found success through their Voter Voice Action Network, an email system dedicated to providing students access for communication with their legislators.
"We focused on financial aid and fought that fight and I think things wouldn't have ended up so well without all the work from the students of all three universities," Mauney said.
