Eller may stop paying $250 fee for students on merit-based waivers

TEMPE - The business college may force undergraduates with merit-based tuition waivers to pay a $250-per-semester fee this fall that was waived for all scholarship recipients this year.

That move is being considered because it would free up more money to give financial aid to students on need-based scholarships, said Pam Perry, associate dean of the Eller College of Management.

But it has drawn the ire of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona Senate, which voted Wednesday to ask the college to continue protecting students on both merit- and need-based scholarships from paying the fee.

They referred to a promise made by former Dean Mark Zupan, who said that when the fee was enacted last year, students on both types of scholarships would be protected. Student lobbyists backed the fee, after initially opposing it, in large part because they thought merit scholars should be protected.

Perry said yesterday, however, that the Eller College Student Council, a different organization from the student lobbying group, preferred need-based scholarship recipients to have priority over merit-based recipients. That was part of the rationale for the proposal to cut off aid to merit scholars.

Andrew Collins, president of the Eller College Student Council, said the council had not formally backed prioritizing students with need-based waivers over students with merit-based waivers, but that he supported protecting need-based students first.

After learning that the college may no longer cover the fees for merit-based students, Collins said the council distributed a survey asking for possible solutions.

While Collins said he wasn't confident in the survey's results, most students he talked to supported protecting need-based students first.

"The top students who need financial aid are the ones you want to give the scholarship to," Collins said.

Jenny Rimsza, a member of the Eller College Student Council, said most of the students in the college supported protecting students with need-based scholarships over those with merit-based scholarships.

"They are our top priority because they are students who normally can't afford a college education," she said.

Rimsza said many students who receive merit-based aid profited from their scholarships, while need-based students often don't receive enough funding.

Perry agreed.

"What we have found was that there were a number of students in the merit category that are making money in scholarships," Perry said. "To us, to lay another scholarship does nothing for those students while (others are) in desperate need for help."

The fee for business undergraduates sparked controversy when regents approved it, by a 5-3 vote last year. Regents have repeatedly expressed concern about fees for undergraduate programs, but a majority of them backed it last year largely because business students were eager to reap its benefits.

Business college officials have said with the $500 they were able to hire six faculty this year.

Collins said students who could afford the fee supported the measure because the funds went directly to the college.

"The money is going back to the students. It's helping strengthen our degree," he said.

- Natasha Bhuyan and Aaron Mackey contributed to this report.