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Regents face deadline for Pathways plan


The Arizona Board of Regents is still working to meet a fall deadline set by Gov. Jan Brewer to establish a new business model to allow more residents to earn college degrees at minimal cost to the state.

In an April 30 meeting with the regents, Brewer called for greater accountability in university spending and a more accessible higher-education system that is less reliant on large research universities.

She told the regents to have a plan by fall 2009, but did not specify a due date. The regents’ next meeting is on Sept. 24 at Northern Arizona University.

Since the meeting, ABOR has been working on a new plan called Pathways, which would give students in rural parts of the state more options such as distance learning and regional institutions.

ABOR spokeswoman Andrea Smiley said the regents are still a long way from having a plan that can be implemented without raising tuition or increasing state funding.

“It is still very much in the planning stages,” Smiley said. “[The regents] are exploring a lot of different options about how we can make it a reality, given the fiscal situation the state is in.”

The Pathways plan includes creating an additional state college that would grant baccalaureate degrees without conducting research, giving students and taxpayers a more affordable option than other large universities, Smiley said.

ABOR was first called on to increase the number of graduates by former Gov. Janet Napolitano, who said she wanted to see the number of college graduates in Arizona double by 2020. Napolitano said the increase would help bring economic development to Arizona.

“Our education system is linked to the needs of Arizona’s economic future,” Napolitano said in her 2008 State of the State Address, in which she proposed to double Arizona’s college graduates. “There is no separation.”

ABOR responded with its 2020 plan, which would increase the number of college graduates by creating regional campuses and promoting distance learning.

Brewer, who became governor when Napolitano was appointed Secretary of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama, has voiced similar desires to bring down the cost of higher education and make it more accessible to residents in rural Arizona.

Brewer differs from Napolitano, however, by emphasizing rolling out the plan at low cost to the state. Arizona has faced budget deficits in the billions of dollars for the past two fiscal years.

Smiley said funding cuts and reductions in revenue will complicate the plan’s implementation.

“In this type of fiscal environment, it’s going to be very difficult to make these plans a reality,” Smiley said. “[But] the regents are dedicated to making it happen.”

History senior Christina Rocks, who sits on the board of directors for the Arizona Students Association, said she is in favor of increasing the number of college graduates in Arizona but is concerned that the cost of the new programs could drive up tuition and fees.

She said she is doubtful ABOR will be able to make the plan happen without additional state funding.

“The only way to achieve those goals, while still making it affordable, is if we get more funding from the state,” Rocks said. “I do think [the plan] can be affordable for the state because of what the state gets from having an educated population.”

Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, said it’s possible to make the plan a reality at a reasonable cost, but the state will have to be more willing to shoulder the funding burden. This would mean reversing the cuts the state Legislature has made to the universities over the last decade, he said.

“Anything can be done with high levels of efficiency, and the universities can only be efficient if they cut the fat from their spending,” Ableser said. “We have cut state funding to the universities so significantly over the last 10 years that there’s nothing left to cut.”

Smiley said raising tuition has not been examined as an option at any stage of the process so far. She added that Brewer’s calls for frugality do not contradict ABOR’s plan to double the number of graduates in Arizona by 2020.

Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.


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