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Students speak out about tuition

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FREEZE TUITION: Psychology senior Matt Trujillo listens to speakers at the Arizona Board of Regents meeting at Old Main Thursday.

More than one hundred students packed into the Old Main Carson Ballroom to listen to their peers and counterparts from other state universities live via Web cast, who spoke largely in favor of their respective student government tuition proposals.

Students from Arizona's three universities and affiliate campuses were given the chance to speak to their presidents, governing boards and peers on Thursday about tuition proposals for the next academic year. The Arizona Board of Regents, the governing body for the in-state universities, will vote on tuition at its Thursday meeting.

The Arizona Students' Association, in affiliation with the ASU Undergraduate Student Government has proposed that the regents vote in favor of its tuition-freeze proposal.

USG's proposal would put a hold on tuition charges next semester, call for more money from state funds and a 5 percent tuition increase to start in the 2009 academic year.

The majority of the student speakers said they believed ASU President Michael Crow's proposal to increase tuition by 9 percent to incoming students and 5 percent to returning students would be detrimental to students that struggle to pay current prices.

The increase would be imposed for an indefinite period of time.

"Please go back to the legislatures and don't come back until you can bring me a tuition proposal that I can afford," said Juan Mendez, a political science senior.

Mendez, president of the ASU Young Democrats, spoke about his personal struggles and hardships that have made it difficult for him to attend school.

But the students that speak out against tuition increases tend to be isolated cases, while the majority of the student body doesn't struggle to pay the University's fees, Crow said.

"You didn't hear from those students who pay their tuition and have no problems," he said.

Crow said he takes student opinion seriously when planning policy.

He is in favor of a proposed panel comprised of 10 students and three administrators that would oversee the creation of University policies.

The group would receive money from a proposed $150 fee that would apply to all students next semester, along with tuition increases, and fund USG, school-sponsored groups and recreation facilities.

The panel and fee is pending regent approval.

Crow said he'd rather see the majority of the money from the fee go toward construction efforts.

Matt Cicinelli, a finance and economics senior, was one of two students to speak largely in favor of Crow's tuition proposal and the $150 fee.

"It's a relatively small increase in tuition and fees that, when aggregated, has a compound effect on the value of the degree (from ASU)," Cicinelli said.

After hearing his peers preach out against the tuition proposal, Cicinelli said he made the decision to speak at the hearing from the perspective of a student who seeks to reap the benefits from the proposal.

Of the nine speakers from ASU's Tempe campus, seven were opposed to the University's tuition proposal.

A sea of baby blue-shirted ASA members flooded the first two rows of seats at the hearing with shirts that read, "Increase state investment in higher education, not tuition."

ASA chair member Lindsay Bayuk dawned her shirt at the podium as she spoke.

"We are all passionate for education," Bayuk said. "What it is going to take is for everyone in this room to come together and manage affordability. At the end of the day, there is no conflict."

Reach the reporter at: daniel.oconnor@asu.edu.


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