Downtown campus students voiced their concerns to members of the Arizona Board of Regents Monday by calling for more transparency and tuition increases being directed towards student priorities.
Lorenzo Salgado, a nonprofit leadership and management sophomore, said if students knew what tuition money was used for, it would not cause as much of a reaction as it is does now.
“Is this tuition increase being used to better the experience of the students attending Arizona universities, or is it used for the cosmetics, such as chairs, desks or what may have you?” Salgado said.
“I think that’s a great factor that’s missing.”
Rabia Abdulmajeed, president of the Student Government Advisory Board, asked ABOR to keep tuition affordable for in-state students.
“Tuition should not rise above what Arizona students and families can afford,” Abdulmajeed said. “The students are the primary investors within the Arizona university system, therefore we have a responsibility securing to them that we are receiving a high-quality return in our financial investments.”
Nursing freshman Samuel Gomez said his biggest concern is that ABOR is not using funding for the right things.
“We spend tons of money on things we don’t need, like plasma TVs or reclining chairs which look nice,” Gomez said, “when we should be spending money on books, financial aid and more instructors for the nursing program or other programs like it.”
Regent Fred DuVal said hearing the students’ concerns was helpful and that he thinks progress can be made to address them.
“We can share more publicly how tuition money is spent … by asking the presidents to periodically describe where the money is going and making it publicly available on Web sites as part of a reporting mechanism to the Board of Regents,” DuVal said.
Reach the reporter at snrodri2@asu.edu.
