Administration, ASUA seek students' views on tuition

Students concerned about prospective tuition changes have the chance to tell top administrators how they would like to see tuition revenue spent, through a tuition survey available on Student Link this week.

The Associated Students of the University of Arizona President Alistair Chapman, who initiated the survey along with student leaders, said the survey results will be presented to administrators Thursday, four days before they must release their tuition and mandatory fees proposal to the public.

"This is an opportunity for us to get quantifiable results on how students would like to see their tuition dollars spent," Chapman said. "Administrators are very interested in seeing those results."

Chapman said he strongly encourages students to take the survey, as it will have a significant impact on the tuition proposal student leaders draft, which will be released to the public Feb. 14, the same day administrators release their tuition proposal.

UA President Peter Likins said that although the survey will not influence the dollar amount of the administrative tuition proposal, it will be significant in gauging whether students are interested in paying additional mandatory fees.

"The survey will be very helpful in assessing the desirability of an information technology fee," Likins said. "It won't have much impact on the tuition question, but there is a separate question as to how interested students are in paying an additional fee that's revenue would be restricted (to) information technology."

The survey includes a question regarding where students would like to see tuition revenue spent, such as class availability, library service enhancements, childcare, campus safety, financial aid or graduate assistant tuition remission, while another question asks how much money students would be willing to pay for such services.

Students can also weigh in on information technology services they would like to see, such as wireless Internet access in all outdoor locations and public places on campus, adding or upgrading teacher workstations, network access and video projection in classrooms and upgrading computer labs.

The idea of the survey originated from the Associated Students of Arizona State University, ASU's student government, who have used a similar survey for the past three years to determine student tuition concerns, Chapman said.

At the UA, student tuition input in previous years has come directly from student leaders, who host focus groups and attend club meetings for student concerns. However, Chapman said that method gives a biased sample of students who are actively involved on campus.

Although student leaders will still seek input from clubs and forums, Chapman hopes the student survey will provide administrators with a more accurate measure of student concerns for the tuition proposals.

"We want to come up with a proposal that won't hurt the university and will be beneficial to students," said Chapman, who will send out a campus-wide e-mail today about the survey.