The Arizona Board of Regents may suspend a policy that keeps university tuition ranked at the top of the lowest third of state universities in the U.S.
Regent Robert Bulla said the board is considering suspending the policy in order to open up some financial options to the universities. No action has been taken thus far, he said.
“We’re trying to get as much flexibility so the best decisions can be made,” he said. “There are a lot of decisions being made that if [the universities] had a few more dollars … they might not be making.”
Statewide budget cuts put the universities under tremendous pressure to cut spending, he said, and suspending the policy could allow a slight increase in tuition to offset that.
Bulla said the thought process behind ABOR’s discussion was based on the question, “What kind of tools can we give the universities to meet the severe challenges they’re facing from the financial standpoint?”
The policy, established in 1987, calls for Arizona’s universities to keep in-state tuition in the lower third of all rates set by other states.
ABOR adopted the policy as a guideline to meet the constitutional requirement that university education be “as nearly free as possible.”
But Bulla said the policy doesn’t necessarily guarantee that provision.
“There’s nothing magical about the one-third policy,” he said.
The board instituted the policy as a safe haven so no one could accuse the university system of being extravagant or unaffordable, he said.
Michael Slugocki, board chair of the Arizona Students’ Association and a UA senior, said students need some sort of gauge to make sure universities stay affordable.
“The way it is now, they’re saying the universities shouldn’t go above the top of the bottom third,” he said. “But since we’re seeing these massive cuts to the universities … they have to raise tuition.”
Slugocki said the students’ association will work with ABOR’s Tuition Task Force to discuss possible solutions that guarantee the affordability of higher education.
ABOR spokeswoman Emily Palumbo said the regents only discussed suspending the policy — no action toward doing so has been taken.
Any definitive action would have to be approved by committees before being considered by the full board, she said, so it could still take a few weeks.
“It’s the first in a series of steps that [need] to be taken for any policy change,” she said.
Bulla said he did not know which position the board would take, but that continued discussion would produce a clearer answer.
“Is it better to have temporary suspension of policy, or is it better to cut out some programs?” he said. “You don’t want to wait until after the fact [when] you’re down the road too far, and you can’t do anything about it.”
Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu.
