Thursday October 11, 2001

Elective courses will be cancelled next semester due to budget cuts

UA President Peter Likins announced at last night's ASUA meeting that he may support a mid year tuition increase if the state Legislature cuts funding to the UA by a substantial enough amount.

Although the exact amount of the funding cut will not be known until sometime after Nov. 13 - when the Legislature meets in a special session to discuss the state budget shortfall - Likins suggested that he could reverse his earlier stance, which unilaterally opposed mid year increases.

"I do not believe there should be a mid year surcharge," Likins said. "At the same time, right now we're looking at a 4 percent, $14 million recission, and I don't know what I'd believe (about raising tuition) if it was a $50 million recission."

Likins said he does, however, support a gradual increase in tuition for both in-state and out-of-state students at the beginning of each school year, accompanied by an increase in the amount of state financial aid available to students. The price of tuition at the UA would be raised to be more in line with universities across the country - approximately $1,000 more for in-state students over a number of years. Arizona currently has the second-lowest in-state tuition in the nation.

"(The UA) is a hell of a bargain for wealthy Arizonans," Likins said.

However, the Arizona Board of Regents, not Likins, determines the price of tuition, and some of those regents would like to see UA tuition raised to levels closer to what other universities charge, while others strongly oppose raising tuition.

Likins also said the budget cuts will take a toll on courses, some of which will have to be eliminated next semester.

His goal is to keep courses that students need either as prerequisites for upper-level courses or to graduate. Decisions on which courses will be eliminated will be made by Oct. 20.

"We will do our damnedest not to wipe out a course that you need to graduate come May," Likins said. "We do not have $14 million floating around, so (students) will be impacted."

Electives courses will be the first to be cut, Likins said.

While the size of the freshmen class has increased, the number of rooms in residence halls has not risen quickly enough, Likins said. Additional residence halls for undergraduates and graduate housing will not be ready until 2003.

"We haven't managed to build the residence halls fast enough," Likins said. "I know that we're not creating the quality of life for our freshman that they need and deserve."

In another matter, the Associated Students of the University of Arizona also addressed the possible addition of a student section for men's basketball games at McKale Center.

ASUA Sen. Josh Maxwell campaigned on a platform to create a student section in McKale Center for basketball games, and asked Likins whether he would support the student section.

While Likins said he supported the idea of a student section, he said that getting alumni and other season-ticket holders to give up their tickets was very difficult.

Season ticket holders want to keep their tickets "until they die, pass them on to their children in their inheritance· and fight over tickets in divorces," Likins said.

A student section will be created only if ticket-holders give up their seats or die.