The Arizona Board of Regents will vote on eight program fees today, but each college will allocate the fees specifically to their program's needs, anywhere from increasing faculty salary to purchasing high tech equipment.

The pros and cons of program fees, known as differential tuition for undergraduates, will be debated today as regents consider charging five new program fees and increasing three existing fees, including a $250 increase in the $500 Eller College of Management fee.

Provost George Davis said regents are generally receptive about graduate program fees since they understand it is a common practice across the nation for professional programs to charge fees.

However, regents are more circumspect when it comes to differential tuition in undergraduate programs, Davis said.

When the $500 business fee was passed in 2003, regents rejected a $1,000 fee for nursing undergraduates, saying they wanted to see stricter guidelines for undergraduate fees.

"It may be a very hard sell, particularly with some of the regents," Davis said.

Three of the fees apply to undergraduates, while the rest are for graduate programs. In the College of Engineering, undergraduates may have to pay a $300 fee and the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture is facing a $500 fee.

Critics of program fees fear they are nothing more than tuition increases tacked onto the $97 in fees UA students already pay.

At the regents' meeting last month, Regent Ernest Calderon said charging additional fees to certain majors is a move regents should be cautious about and regents should consider the financial burden students would face.

However, Davis said administrators are committed to keeping programs accessible through a financial aid set-aside.

Colleges retain 75 percent of program fee revenue, 15 percent goes toward financial aid and 10 percent is pooled in the Provost's Office general fund, where it is reallocated as deemed necessary.

Earlier this week, students said they would support the program fees if they were allowed to weigh in on how the revenue is spent.

The College of Engineering, which is requesting a differential tuition charge of $300 for undergraduates, has organized forums this semester and students have suggested the money be spend on higher teaching salaries, up-to-date technology and laboratory resources, said Vern Johnson, associate dean of the college.

For the most part, engineering students are supportive of the fee as long as they can see direct results if it is passed.

"We hope alumni can smile back on this," Johnson said.

The College of Pharmacy fee could increase $2,500, with a total fee of $7,000 while evening and weekend masters of business administration students could pay a fee of $40,000, up from $30,000 last year.

J. Lyle Bootman, dean of the College of Pharmacy, said the fee would be used to sustain the college's national ranking by hiring faculty and providing technology, advising and professional activities vital to student success.

But not just any college lacking funds can get a program fee.

Jerry Hogle, vice president of instruction, said colleges must consider certain criteria before they request a fee, such as having a higher cost per student than the university average, demonstrating students will benefit from a fee and being in a high-income field.

This year, the only fee request administrators did not forward to the regents was a program fee for journalism.

"We've worked six or seven months to have our act together with (the) programs we are bringing forward," Davis said. "We think we are pretty strong going into this."

The Arizona Board of Regents will meet today and tomorrow at Arizona State University in Tempe.