DJAMILA NOELLE GROSSMAN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Architecture junior Candice Nichol finishes up her last assignment for the semester, an art gallery model. It could soon be the last project for many architecture students, as a program fee will have to be instated to keep the programs alive.

The livelihood of a UA degree that avoided elimination last year may depend whether or not the Arizona Board of Regents approves a program fee tomorrow, which administrators call "key to the program's very survival."

Nearly 28 months after being placed on the academic chopping block because of the 2003 Focused Excellence initiative, the Planning Degree Program is facing a $700 fee for part-time planning students and a $1,400 for full-time planning students.

John Paul Jones III, department head of geography and regional development, said the fee is crucial for the planning degree to continue offering the professional courses necessary to remain an accredited program.

"The Planning Degree Program requires a fee to be financially viable," Jones said.

Although the Planning Degree Program, formerly known as the School of Planning in the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, was slated for elimination, members of the school fought the cut last year.

Their efforts paid off in August when the regents voted to spare the planning degree and move it to the Department of Geography and Regional Development in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, although the School of Planning was disestablished.

Provost George Davis said given the "harrowing experience" of last year when the regents voted to save planning, they did so with the understanding that it would be difficult to maintain the planning degree without a fee.

"The regents smiled knowingly that I would be back," Davis said.

The School of Landscape Architecture, another program previously identified under Focused Excellence elimination, may see a $500 differential tuition charge next fall.

But Ron Stoltz, director of the School of Landscape Planning, said he has a surprise for potential landscape architecture

students - their fee is already paid for.

Because the profession is suffering a nationwide shortage, Stoltz said landscape architects from around the country donated money to the UA to cover the cost of the program fee for incoming students.

"We have a really wonderful group of people out there, people who are very committed," Stoltz said of the landscape architects. "They are so over the top, enthusiastic, so cooperative, so happy to assist."

The American Society of Landscape Architects' UA student chapter also donated money to cover the fee for future students in the school, Stoltz said.

With the advent of the program fee, all course fees in landscape architecture will be eliminated and, in effect, students will end up paying less for their education, Stoltz said.

The revenue from the program fee will not be spent on faculty. Instead, Stoltz said it will be used for student expenses, such as course materials, field trips and guest lectures.

Special course fees will also be eliminated in the School of Architecture and replaced with a $500 differential tuition charge for the undergraduate program, which is the only institution to offer a bachelor's degree in architecture in the state.

Álvaro Malo, director of the School of Architecture, said the differential tuition will be used for digital rapid prototype equipment, specialized hardware, materials, software and personnel to service the new equipment.

Mary Hardin, professor in the School of Architecture, said students in architecture labs construct model structures using concrete, steel and masonry - materials they must purchase themselves.

With the fee, Hardin said the school could purchase the material in bulk, resulting in a lower cost per student.

"It's way cheaper than having the students go out and buy their own materials. It's better for them," Hardin said.

But Velen Chan, a pre-architecture freshman, said although administrators may have good intentions, she is skeptical about where the fee revenue will really go.

"I'm cynical about the school system; when they say where they are going to allot certain fees, it doesn't always happen," Chan said. "We wouldn't see the benefits."

But Malo said the improvements combined with the $9.4 million expansion of the Architecture building, which began last month, will launch the School of Architecture into a world-class institution.

Although the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture felt the effects of Focused Excellence last year, Malo said "excellence" in architecture has been practiced long before university administrators revealed their plan.

But for the Planning Degree Program, excellence may take some more time.

Since Focused Excellence was introduced, the number of planning students dropped from 68 to 30, and 3 1/2 of its seven full-time faculty positions were lost. Two professors resigned.

With the help of the fee, Jones said the program is "poised for excellence," expecting to attract 10 more students next fall.

The regents will vote on the program fees, along with special course fees and differential tuition, tomorrow during their meeting at Arizona State University.