PHOENIX - University leadership made a plea to state legislators Wednesday, asking them to reinstate the financial support they received five years ago.

UA President Peter Likins and Alistair Chapman, Associated Students of the University of Arizona president, joined Arizona State University President Michael Crow and student leadership from Northern Arizona University and ASU to ask for more money for state universities.

Likins told the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee the funds UA received from the state in fiscal year 2005 were $51 million less than what the university received in fiscal year 2002, and the results were obvious.

"We're shutting down programs and we're laying people off," Likins said.

We're shutting down programs and we're laying people off. – UA President Peter Likins

He said some of the financial strain of the past few years is due to the shifting of financial responsibility from the taxpayers to the tuition payers.

Chapman said tuition has increased by 63 percent since 2001, with the largest increase of 39 percent in the 2002-2003 school year.

Likins said the university has gone through "constant adjustments" to cope with the loss of money and requested the Legislature make an adjustment in its budget construction.

Likins asked the Legislature to combine the now-separated UA and UA Health Sciences Center budgets to help merge the two entities.

"The science base for health care is becoming more and more embedded," Likins said, which is why the money needs to be used for both.

As bioresearch, medical research and chemistry are used more in health care studies, money cannot be reserved specifically for medical studies or specifically for research studies because it is all part of one project, Likins said.

Likins said the expansion of the UA medical school to Phoenix is a good example because the medical school will combine research and medical practice in one place.

Gary Stuart, Arizona Board of Regents president, also asked the state to fund the expansion of the medical school. He explained the school is a regents' initiative, not a single entity of the UA or ASU.

"It will be run by UA and staffed by ASU and UA," Stuart said.

Legislators expressed concern with funding the medical school without having a specific budget in front of them. Stuart said the school needs support to get going and a more specific budget would be formulated when costs could be better anticipated.

Chapman spoke on behalf of all Arizona students and asked Legislators for a renewed commitment to the Arizona Financial Aid Trust.

The trust, created in the late 1980s, requires 1 percent of each student's tuition to go into the trust to fund financial aid. Chapman said the agreement is for the state to match the amount students contribute to double the amount in the fund.

However, Chapman and Likins both said the amount the state contributes has decreased over the past few years, even though a bill in the legislature was written to require the state to contribute twice the amount students contribute.

This year the governor said the state should match the funds by a 1.27-1 ratio, a number Chapman said he would be happy with since the state is not matching the 1-1 ratio now.

Stuart also asked for increased support from Legislators. The regents used to get their entire budget from the state, which has also dwindled, Stuart said.

Stuart also asked the state to fund the universities enrollment growth or give them money based on how many more students they enroll each year.