The UA will offer tuition breaks starting this fall for same-sex couples, and officials say the program will help the UA compete for faculty and staff members along with bringing equitable treatment to its employees.

UA President Peter Likins made the announcement in a letter to the campus community on July 25.

The UA will be the first of the three state universities to extend its tuition reduction program to same-sex domestic partners and dependent children of those partners. The UA has only offered the tuition reduction program to employees, their spouses and their dependents in the past.

Participants must meet qualifications and be registered under the Tucson Domestic Partner Ordinance. Domestic partners will be eligible to attend classes for $25 per semester plus mandatory fees. Dependent children of domestic partners will be able to attend at a 75 percent discount on base tuition.

Associated vice president of communications Paul Allvin said the UA has been considering offering tuition breaks for same-sex partners of UA employees for over a year.

There has been some pressure from gay and lesbian groups on campus to offer tuition breaks to domestic partners of employees, but Allvin said the decision was made after officials looked at peer institutions and realized many of them offered some sort of benefit or tuition break.

"We need to be able to compete with these institutions," Allvin said. "This will help us to keep the best and brightest employees."

The UA and ASU are the only schools in the Pacific 10 that don't offer domestic partner health coverage. Ten of 11 peer universities in the Big 10, which is made up of senior research institutions, offer some combination of health coverage and tuition reduction for domestic partners.

Allvin said it is hard to say what effect the program will have, but said they expect between 30 and 40 UA employees to participate at a cost of about $180,000.

This will be a relatively small financial impact considering the UA will be able to better attract quality employees, he said.

Along with competing with peer institutions, Allvin said the program will help the UA compete for non-faculty workforce.

"Other major employers like Pima County and the City of Tucson offer some kind of program for same-sex partners," Allvin said. "The UA is behind the times and this will help move us into the mainstream."

To offer health or other benefits, the UA would have to gain approval from the state legislature since standard benefit packages for state employees have to be approved by the state.