PHOTO COURTESY STATE PRESS President Peter Likins looks over the agenda of the Arizona Board of Regents meeting at Arizona State University yesterday. The regents rejected all three UA undergraduate tuition requests.

Graduate program fees supported

The Arizona Board of Regents rejected all three undergraduate differential tuition requests during their meeting yesterday in a 7-2 vote but approved the five graduate programs fees, despite protests from university presidents and student leaders.

Regents were reluctant to embrace the undergraduate fees, citing voids in financial aid, allocation of fee revenue and questions if fees were in reality with tuition increases.

Regent President Gary Stuart said the board failed to analyze the impact of implementing the fees on undergraduates because there is no concrete policy on differential tuition. As a result, Stuart said it was difficult to support the concept of undergraduate fees.

Regent Fred Boice, who voted against differential tuition, called the process of fee implementation "inappropriate and incomplete," but Provost George Davis defended the fees, pointing out they were necessary to remain competitive and build quality learning environments.

"We seek excellence in these areas," Davis said. "Good is the enemy of excellence."

The university requested differential tuition charges of $500 for the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, $300 for the College of Engineering and a $250 increase in the Eller College of Management fee.

With the rejection of the fees, Davis said the programs cannot foster excellence because if the size of the program remains the same, the quality will diminish if no additional funding is received.

Students who spoke during the meeting also voiced their support for the fees, and Associated Students of the University of Arizona representatives said as long as students had input on how fee revenue would be spent, they endorsed the fees.

Patrick Brennan, a business administration senior, said since the Eller College of Management implemented their $500 differential tuition charge two years ago, the college has improved in national rankings and reputation.

Brennan said business students supported the $250 increase because they were willing to make an investment in their future.

"It's a remarkable thing to me that the students have accepted this reality as long as they're monitoring the use of these dollars," said President Peter Likins.

But Regent Ernest Calderon said universities have instilled the concept of fees within students to the point where they believe fees must be implemented in order to receive a quality education.

In 2003, regents passed an unprecedented fee of $500 for Eller undergraduates, although they rejected a $1,000 fee for undergraduate nursing programs, citing the need for stricter guidelines for imposing fees.

But Davis said the university was selective with which programs could be eligible for fees and outlined seven requirements, such as higher earning potential for students, higher average cost per student and demonstration that the university would benefit.

Likins also argued the university would protect needy students from the fees because 15 percent of each fee would go toward financial aid.

But regents feared the fees would elevate the universities above board policy to keep tuition at the top of the bottom one-third of peer institutions.

"I'm concerned with undergraduate fees. ... (It is) a two-pronged tuition process," said Regent Chris Herstam, who voted against the undergraduate fees. "We raised tuition in March, now we raise differential tuition in April - it gives me great heartburn."

While the regents rejected undergraduate fees from all three universities, they were quick to support graduate program fees because the salary for graduates would surpass any financial burden from a fee.

However, Likins said differentiating between undergraduate and graduate programs is arbitrary because the three undergraduate programs that requested fees were also professional programs despite their "undergraduate" status.

Professional programs train students for employment the same way many graduate programs do, Likins said.

Regent Jack Jewitt blamed the need for differential tuition on the lack of state funding.

"We have failed as a state to do what states do who support higher education," Jewitt said.

Alistair Chapman, student body president, said because there was discussion about changing the policy of fees, a positive outcome of the meeting was how the regents set a future precedent for fee implementation.

Non-voting Student Regent Ben Graff said student communication with the college deans will be vital when differential tuition is brought to the board again.

Davis said if there is closer examination of the need for fees, he believes the regents will eventually support fees in the future.