SUSIE LEMONT/Arizona Daily Wildcat President Pete Likins discusses tuition plans yesterday afternoon at the Arizona Cancer Center.

Regents agreed that it is time for a "substantial" increase in tuition and financial aid during their meeting yesterday at the Arizona Cancer Center, meaning that tuition could rise as much as $1,000 next year.

Regents pledged to focus on raising financial aid rather than keeping with their precedent of voting for low tuition and only minimal increases.

The regents should move toward setting aside at least 14 percent of any tuition increase for financial aid, a significant departure from the current policy that calls for setting aside 8 percent, said Regents President Jack Jewett.

If the regents are going to focus on setting aside 14 percent of tuition for financial aid, then they also ought to look toward a $1,000 tuition increase, said Regent Fred Boice.

The majority of the Regents, including those who voted against a substantial tuition increase last year, now support a significant increase.

Regent Chris Herstam said that he voted to keep tuition low last year because financial aid was so low.

Arizona is one of few states that doesn't offer state-based financial aid.

"If financial aid can be dramatically raised to 14 percent, then I could support raising tuition that could get us to · a $1,000 increase," Herstam said.

Regent Don Ulrich said that he voted for a small increase of 4 percent last year in order to force regents to change how tuition is set every year.

"Now it's time for a substantial tuition increase," he said.

As a part of yesterday's discussion on tuition, President Pete Likins, ASU President Michael Crow and NAU President John Haeger presented three different scenarios of $500, $750 and $1,000 tuition increases for in-state undergraduate students.

In looking at tuition for out-of-state students, Likins only considered a $1,250 increase for next year.

He said he considered raising graduate tuition by $250 more than whatever amount undergraduate tuition is increased by.

While the plans for raising tuition and financial aid were originally supposed to focus on meeting the needs of students who cannot afford a large increase in tuition, Likins projected that administrators could reduce UA's unmet financial need by $500,000.

"These calculations show that it is possible to have an aggressive tuition increase and make the place more affordable," Likins said.

Likins has said he is in favor of taking funds from students who have the means to pay tuition without any financial aid and redirecting them to students who have greater financial need.

In a survey of last year's freshman class, 56 percent reported that their parents earn more than $65,000 per year. 31 percent of the freshmen reported that their parents earn more than $100,000 per year.

Although Likins has not said how much he will recommend that tuition be increased this year, he has said in the past that he wants to see tuition increase by at least $1,000 over the next few years.

Chair of the faculty senate Jory Hancock said he has the impression Likins is leaning toward reducing unmet need by $500,000 and raising tuition $1,000 next year.

Likins also said a substantial tuition increase may have consequences that will need to be considered.

"When we raise tuition drastically, we may deal with the elasticity of the market," he said, suggesting that fewer students could enroll at the UA.

Rick Kroc, director of assessment and enrollment research, said national data suggests that enrollment declines one-half to one percent with every $100 tuition increase.

But, he added that UA tuition is so low that enrollment will not necessarily drop because of a tuition hike.

He cautioned that some universities that have substantially raised tuition in the past have failed to become more affordable to those with financial need because they didn't allocate sufficient funds toward financial aid.

"There are so many different uses (of tuition money) that it takes a lot of integrity to follow-through and use it for financial aid," Kroc said.

Expressing their commitment to financial aid, a few regents said they could support the most aggressive plan that reduces unmet need by $500,000 and raises tuition $1,000.

When it comes to tuition, Regent Christina Palacios said she is "willing to go high."

She also said she is willing to support Likins' most aggressive scenario, reducing unmet need by $500,000 and raising tuition by $1,000.

Regent Gary Stuart also expressed support for reducing unmet need by $500,000 with a large tuition increase.

"If my goal is to raise our grade in affordability, the best way to get there is with (the aggressive scenario) with variability," he said.

Although Arizona has one of the lowest tuition rates in the country, a university education here has been ranked as one of the least affordable.

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education gave Arizona a D- in affordability in its biennial report card.

Regent Robert Bulla said it is time to raise tuition so students shoulder more of the financial burden.

"Tuition can be made a vehicle to make statements to students. In a reasonable manner, we should make the statement that students have to do their share to address some of the issues."

Straying from past board policy, regents agreed to set tuition in March ÷ a month earlier than in the past years.

Board president Jewett said he wants to vote in March on undergraduate tuition and how much money the regents will require the presidents to set aside for financial aid.

"We'll have student hearings as early as January if things go well," he said.

However, UA student body president Doug Hartz told the board of regents that it will be difficult to prepare for student hearings if they take place at the January meeting.

"We need a little more time than January," he said.

Regents discussed Changing Directions in passing, but didn't introduce many new ideas.

They agreed to vote on policy changes at the next meeting, which is in January.

The proposed policy changes include allowing the three universities to set different tuitions and enabling various undergraduate and graduate colleges and departments within each university to set their own tuition.

Regents also said they plan to eliminate the 25 percent cap on out-of-state enrollment.