The Residence Hall Association voted almost unanimously last night to approve a 3.5 percent rate increase for University of Arizona residence halls next fall at last night's meeting.

Chris Christensen, RHA president, asked the association to analyze the rate proposal carefully and stressed the importance of the issue.

After a half-hour discussion at the association's meeting last night, a 3.5 percent fixed-rate increase was approved by a 16-1 vote, with the only dissenting vote coming from Coronado Residence Hall.

Christensen said he was pleased with the quick decision, saying that this same discussion has taken over two hours in years past.

RHA's other option was a $84 fixed-dollar increase to the rent of every hall. This was rejected because residence halls vary in rent. Some halls would have received a 3 percent increase and others would have had a 4 percent increase under the fixed-dollar proposal. The majority present agreed that the fixed-dollar would be unfair.

Last night's decision will now go to the Arizona Board of Regents for a final decision.

Christensen also said the rate increase does not have anything to do with the Tucson Cablevision service being installed in the residence halls. He referred to editorials that appeared in the Arizona Daily Wildcat this week.

People attending the meeting were concerned that if RHA did not agree on a proposal, the regents would approve their own rate without considering the association's input.

Jim Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life, said the regents would approve a rate of their own, and most likely a higher one.

The 3.5 percent increase is due to the rate of inflation, which is about 3 percent, Van Arsdel said. If a proposal had not been chosen at last night's meeting, the regents may have been influenced by other departments to make a decision.

Many in attendance agreed that the 3.5 percent increase was fair.

Randy Johnson, RHA finance director, said that the proposal will appear before the regents at their meeting in either January or February.

RHA Representative Patricia Lockett said the association looked at past residence halls rates and inflation figures in planning next year's proposal.

Lockett said the association looked at how the money had been spent and ways to improve spending.

"The majority were in favor (of the 3.5 percent increase) and were willing to spend a little more," Christensen said.

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