UA Education worth tuition raise

I am writing in response to the news that Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull is against a tuition increase, even when the state universities have been forced to make budget cuts. As a recent graduate of the University of Arizona, it puzzles me that state leaders refuse to raise tuition rates. That Arizona is "second lowest in the country after Florida" is just amazing!

The citizens of Arizona have a relative gold mine in their state university system. Specifically, a UA education is possibly the best buy in the country. Many UA students, like I was when I attended the UA, come from out of state (many from California). The out-of-state tuition at the UA is a bargain, especially when you factor in the cost of living in Tucson. For example, the cost is about the same, if not less, to attend the UA as an out-of-state student from California as it is to attend UCLA or Cal-Berkeley as an in-state student.

Why is Gov. Hull afraid of increasing tuition even a few hundred dollars a month? That potential in-state students won't attend the universities because of the increase? It's already a bargain!

Tuition rates at the state universities in California increased dramatically in the 1990s. However, attendance at the universities seemed to increase as it became more difficult to gain acceptance. Clearly, as the population of the state of Arizona continues to increase at a dramatic rate, in-state students will continue to flock to the state universities. In fact, UA set a record this year for freshman enrollment!

Clearly, Gov. Hull has her priorities backwards. Even a small increase in rates may help to erase potential budget cuts and may even help UA retain and better pay its faculty - a huge problem facing UA today.

A UA education is a valuable commodity in today's economy. It helps to distinguish applicants in this tight job market. Arizona shouldn't pride itself as the "low price leader," as low prices don't always equal the best value. The state of Arizona should instead focus on the quality of the education by retaining and better paying its vital faculty members.

Alan Barkwill
UA alumnus

Administration should take cuts too

The UA students should thank Gov. Jane Dee Hull for requiring that President Peter Likins not request another tuition hike. Every year I've attended this university, there has been a tuition hike. The fact is that Likins needs to stop forcing the students to pay for university largesse and start cutting fat from the administration bureaucracy. Recently, Likins has proposed cuts to advising, of all things, and cuts to Residence Life. Why is it that cuts in the budget always end up coming from student programs, such as university facilities that directly effect student life and the ability to get an education, rather then coming from the areas where waste is most prevalent like in the administration?

Students should stop being punished for the waste at the top. Rather, Likins and his staff should take pay cuts in their astronomical salaries to help pay for these budget shortfalls. And Likins should stop his construction spending spree that is primarily responsible for the budget shortfalls. Or maybe he should just fire the budget director and financial controllers of the UA who have gotten us into this mess by not planning for the possibility of state cuts.

Seth Frantzman
history senior

Dale column hypocritical, personally biased

Once again, Mr. Shane Dale has shown a total lack of knowledge on foreign affairs in his column on "America and Israel: on the same page." In his column, he claims that the Israelis have had to endure 50 years of violence due to the religious beliefs of the Palestinians. Does he know that 15 to 20 percent of Palestinians are Christians, including Yasser Arafat's wife, and that they are well represented in the Palestinian government? It is pure hypocrisy to show so much scorn for the purported religious fanaticism of the Palestinian freedom struggle yet make no mention of the Israeli ideology that God gave the "Chosen People" the right to usurp land that they had left over a thousand years ago.

I would suggest that Mr. Dale visit the Web sites of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and study the UN Resolutions on the issue instead of making claims based on personal bias.

Omar Khawaja
business management senior