TEMPE - The Arizona Board of Regents voted yesterday to increase in-state tuition by 3 percent, or $56, and out-of-state tuition by 5 percent, or $396, for the 1996-97 school year - a move supported by student leaders, but not by UA President Manuel Pacheco.

Pacheco had asked the board to consider implementing a 5 percent in-state hike, or $94, in addition to a 5 percent out-of-state hike. He said during the meeting at Arizona State University that even with the 5 percent increase, the University of Arizona would not come "anywhere close" to meeting its financial needs. Pacheco said that if the UA continues to be underfunded, quality of education at the UA will suffer.

A 5 percent in-state increase would have meant an additional $600,000 in revenue to the UA, Pacheco said. When questioned whether the university would have to seek outside funds to improve education, Pacheco said that it is the state's responsibility to cover the cost of education for Arizonans rather than the private sector. As a research institution, the UA has many opportunities to provide students with first-rate experiences and facilities but it must be given the necessary resources from the state to do so.

Regent Rudy Campbell also requested a higher tuition increase. He likened the 3 percent hike as equalling the amount a student spends buying a soda each day during the school year. He said it was not enough.

Campbell recommended a 5 percent increase for in-state students and a 7 percent increase for out-of-state students, saying he did not want Arizona to be the cheapest of the country's state institutions.

Last year there were only five other state university systems less expensive than Arizona's $1,950 in-state tuition rate, according to information provided by the board of regents. But in terms of out-of-state tuition, the UA and ASU were ranked as the 27th most expensive for out-of-state students. Lattie Coor, president of Arizona State University and Clara Lovett, president of Northern Arizona University, each asked for the 3 percent resident and 5 percent non-resident increases.

The board also approved increasing the student fee for the Arizona Student Financial Aid Trust Fund from $16 to $19 per year. All students contribute to this financial aid set aside program, which the state matches dollar-for-dollar, however the aid is only available to in-state students. Students also pay a $50 student recreation fee, which did not change.

With the tuition and fee increases an in-state student will pay a total of $2,009 next year while out-of-state students will pay a total of $8,377. Student leaders were pleased with the amount of the increase, which is looked upon as an inflationary increase only.

UA Associated Students President Ben Driggs said that for the third consecutive year, students have received modest tuition increases of about 3 percent. He said this is "phenomenal" when compared to schools across the country that have been hit with larger tuition increases.

Arizona Students Association Executive Director Paul Allvin said it is only fair to ask students to keep pace with inflation when that is all the legislature is willing to do when this year's university budget increases barely covered inflation.

Over the past 10 years, in-state tuition has more than doubled from $990 in 1985-86 to the approved $2,009 in 1996-97. Over the same period, tuition has increased at an average rate of 7 percent, ranging from no increase in 1992 to a $254 increase the following year.

Non-resident tuition at ASU and UA has also more than doubled, from a low in 1985-86 of $3,844 to its present $8,377. It has also seen an average 7 percent tuition rate increase from a $1,000, or 18 percent, high in 1990 to a low of zero in 1992.

The regents also increased the UA's College of Medicine tuition by 5.7 percent, or $469, to a 1996 academic year total of $7,429. Last year, the College of Medicine was the 14th least expensive medical college in the country.

Its tuition rate was ranked 60 between a high of $18,490 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a low of $2,685 at North Carolina.

The board will conclude its meeting today at ASU. The next regents meeting will be May 30 and 31 on the NAU campus.