ARIZONA (By Judd Slivka, Arizona Republic)
May 15, 2007 — It has been a long 12 months for the state's public
higher-education systems.
A proposal to totally redesign the university system. Another proposal to allow community colleges to offer four-year degrees. An attempt to cap tuition at the state's universities. Accusations of legislative heavy-handedness. Two rebellions by the state Board of Regents against the university presidents.
It's enough to confuse even the clearest minds.
Here's the state of the state's higher education as it has evolved over the past year:
In April 2007, then-Regents President Chris Herstam proposed splitting Arizona State University's campus in west Phoenix into a stand-alone university and combining Northern Arizona University's Yuma campus and the University of Arizona-South into a stand-alone university. There would be cheaper tuition at those two new universities and at NAU's main campus in Flagstaff.
The proposal set off a storm of controversy. The community colleges were mad because they weren't consulted. So were legislators and the staffs of the universities affected by the proposal.
After nine months of study, a work group came to the following conclusion: Don't create new universities. Instead, let the roles of the universities define tuition costs.
As a result, ASU-Tempe and UA will have, generally, the highest tuitions, reflecting the amount of capital-intensive research that occurs on those campuses that student tuition dollars help subsidize.
NAU's campus in Flagstaff, ASU-East and ASU-West will have lower tuition, generally.
NAU-Yuma, UA-South and any "2+2" programs (in which students complete their first two years at a community college and then finish through NAU classes on that same campus) would have the lowest tuition.
The state Board of Regents began moving toward this model in earnest at the board's March meeting, rejecting university presidents' recommendations for tuition increases and instead moderating the increases and beginning to create separate tuition structures for each campus.
The regents went a step further at their April meeting, shooting down university proposals to add new undergraduate fees to some programs.
The move was a reaction to a conservative Legislature that has expressed displeasure at a 70 percent tuition hike over the last four years but hasn't increased its donations to the state financial aid fund.
Because the state does not guarantee university funding, the universities use tuition to pay for items they need that the state doesn't fund — for instance, more instructors or financial aid.
Without a stable funding source, university presidents argue, guaranteeing a rate of tuition over a period of years would require significant increases in tuition.
Looking ahead: Look for the gaps between campus tuitions to widen, but also watch for the universities to base their tuition on specific programs. That is, engineering at ASU's Fulton School of Engineering would cost more than engineering at ASU-East. Universities may also try and wrap fees into tuition proposals, keeping individual programs' tuitions within the bottom third of public universities for those programs to comply with the state Constitution's "nearly free as possible" clause.
Look for the regents to try to get a handle on tuition and fees and push the Legislature hard on providing more money for financial aid.
Knaperek's bill would have allowed community colleges to offer four-year degrees in health professions, teaching, law enforcement and fire science. It also would have converted Eastern Arizona College, a financially struggling community college in Thatcher, into a four-year liberal arts college.
The bill passed the House twice but was stymied in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Knaperek and Senate sponsor Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, made an end run around that committee, however, and took it straight to the Senate floor. However, the Governor's Office made it very clear to Knaperek that the bill wouldn't get signed unless it was nothing more than a study committee.
Even though the bill didn't go anywhere, it sparked conversations. NAU, which has "2+2" agreements with every community college in the state, became more responsive to the community colleges and is more actively engaged in conversations with several of them, among them, Central Arizona College.
Looking ahead: This issue isn't going away anytime soon. It has been proposed the past two years and passed the House pretty convincingly this session. Look for four-year degrees at community colleges within a decade but in a limited way.
Conversely, NAU could go to the Legislature with an aggressive plan to expand its distance-learning and "2+2" programs.
A proposal to totally redesign the university system. Another proposal to allow community colleges to offer four-year degrees. An attempt to cap tuition at the state's universities. Accusations of legislative heavy-handedness. Two rebellions by the state Board of Regents against the university presidents.
It's enough to confuse even the clearest minds.
Here's the state of the state's higher education as it has evolved over the past year:
Redesign and tuition
The proposal to overhaul the state's university system started with a bang and ended with whimper.In April 2007, then-Regents President Chris Herstam proposed splitting Arizona State University's campus in west Phoenix into a stand-alone university and combining Northern Arizona University's Yuma campus and the University of Arizona-South into a stand-alone university. There would be cheaper tuition at those two new universities and at NAU's main campus in Flagstaff.
The proposal set off a storm of controversy. The community colleges were mad because they weren't consulted. So were legislators and the staffs of the universities affected by the proposal.
After nine months of study, a work group came to the following conclusion: Don't create new universities. Instead, let the roles of the universities define tuition costs.
As a result, ASU-Tempe and UA will have, generally, the highest tuitions, reflecting the amount of capital-intensive research that occurs on those campuses that student tuition dollars help subsidize.
NAU's campus in Flagstaff, ASU-East and ASU-West will have lower tuition, generally.
NAU-Yuma, UA-South and any "2+2" programs (in which students complete their first two years at a community college and then finish through NAU classes on that same campus) would have the lowest tuition.
The state Board of Regents began moving toward this model in earnest at the board's March meeting, rejecting university presidents' recommendations for tuition increases and instead moderating the increases and beginning to create separate tuition structures for each campus.
The regents went a step further at their April meeting, shooting down university proposals to add new undergraduate fees to some programs.
The move was a reaction to a conservative Legislature that has expressed displeasure at a 70 percent tuition hike over the last four years but hasn't increased its donations to the state financial aid fund.
Because the state does not guarantee university funding, the universities use tuition to pay for items they need that the state doesn't fund — for instance, more instructors or financial aid.
Without a stable funding source, university presidents argue, guaranteeing a rate of tuition over a period of years would require significant increases in tuition.
Looking ahead: Look for the gaps between campus tuitions to widen, but also watch for the universities to base their tuition on specific programs. That is, engineering at ASU's Fulton School of Engineering would cost more than engineering at ASU-East. Universities may also try and wrap fees into tuition proposals, keeping individual programs' tuitions within the bottom third of public universities for those programs to comply with the state Constitution's "nearly free as possible" clause.
Look for the regents to try to get a handle on tuition and fees and push the Legislature hard on providing more money for financial aid.
Community colleges
Midway through the legislative session, Rep. Laura Knaperek introduced House Bill 2079, potentially the most transformative piece of higher-education legislation introduced in the state for years.Knaperek's bill would have allowed community colleges to offer four-year degrees in health professions, teaching, law enforcement and fire science. It also would have converted Eastern Arizona College, a financially struggling community college in Thatcher, into a four-year liberal arts college.
The bill passed the House twice but was stymied in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Knaperek and Senate sponsor Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, made an end run around that committee, however, and took it straight to the Senate floor. However, the Governor's Office made it very clear to Knaperek that the bill wouldn't get signed unless it was nothing more than a study committee.
Even though the bill didn't go anywhere, it sparked conversations. NAU, which has "2+2" agreements with every community college in the state, became more responsive to the community colleges and is more actively engaged in conversations with several of them, among them, Central Arizona College.
Looking ahead: This issue isn't going away anytime soon. It has been proposed the past two years and passed the House pretty convincingly this session. Look for four-year degrees at community colleges within a decade but in a limited way.
Conversely, NAU could go to the Legislature with an aggressive plan to expand its distance-learning and "2+2" programs.
