Suggested increase of $900 for in-state and $1,450 for out-of-state much larger than in past years

Student lobbyists proposed a $900 increase in resident undergraduate tuition and a $1,450 increase for non-resident undergraduates yesterday.

While the numbers are far higher than their proposals in past years, the $900 hike for in-state students is $100 less than President Pete Likins proposed last week. However, the lobbyists' proposal calls for an out-of-state increase $200 higher than Likins proposed.

Under the lobbyists' plan, the UA stands to gain $24.1 million from undergraduates, a number comparable to what it would make under Likins' plan. But Student Body President Doug Hartz, who heads the UA's delegation of student lobbyists, said their plan sets aside about $770,000 more for financial aid than Likins' proposal while returning the same amount to the university for other purposes.

"The priority is to address need and we're better able to do that under this proposal than under the president's," Hartz said.

Likins said last week that ensuring access for needy students was a top priority if tuition was to be raised, and has repeatedly emphasized coupling a tuition hike with a financial aid increase.

The lobbyists' proposal marks a drastic change in the traditional student lobbyist stance, which typically called for small tuition increases, if any. Last year, they proposed a 0 percent hike.

But with the university facing continued funding cuts from the Arizona State Legislature, regents and many students began to realize raising tuition was becoming a necessity.

"If it helps the departments from budget cuts, I'm for a tuition increase," pre-computer science freshman Jacob White said.

Student leaders had discussed calling for an increase as small as $500, according to lobbyist Melanie Rainer. But they realized that when joined with a large financial aid increase, the university wasn't getting enough money.

"Nine-hundred dollars will bring in the revenue but reduce the need for students," Rainer said.

The lobbyists' plan reflects a desire to protect in-state students as much as possible, Hartz said. He pointed to the fact that resident students typically graduate $1,000 deeper in debt than their non-resident counterparts, as justification for proposing a steeper out-of-state hike than Likins did.

"The University of Arizona has an obligation as a public, land-grant institution to educate the citizens of the state of Arizona," the proposal reads.

In the proposal, lobbyists accuse the UA of an "institutional failure" to meet those obligations.

"(Our plan) is more consistent with the mission of a public university," Hartz said.

Students will also ask UA administrators to ensure the money gained from a tuition increase gets used to directly benefit students. Rainer said many students she has talked with have said they support a tuition hike because they are having trouble getting classes and graduating on time.

"You're taking money from students. Now how are we going to see it, what are you going to do about it for the students?" she said.

Likins has warned that students may not see immediate benefits of a tuition hike, but said their situation would be much worse next year if it does not pass.

"All I can say is, if you hadn't paid the $1,000 more you'd be feeling a lot more pain," Likins said last week when asked how he'd respond to students concerned they weren't seeing benefits from a hike.

Lobbyists had originally planned to release their proposal last week. Early in the week student lobbyists submitted their proposal to budget director Dick Roberts for analysis, but they didn't hear back from him until Friday, Rainer said.

Then on Friday they decided not to release it until Hartz returned from a trip to Washington D.C. to give it his final approval.

The regents will set tuition at their March 6 ÷ 7 meeting at ASU. Students can voice their opinions on next year's tuition at a forum from 4 p.m. ÷ 6 p.m. Monday in Modern Languages building, room 350.

Keren G. Raz contributed to this report.