PHOENIX - A House bill creating a tuition prepayment fund in the state treasurer's office has died at the hands of a powerful senator.

Republican Carol Springer of Prescott, who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee, has refused to hear House Bill 2270, said Paul Allvin, executive director of the Arizona Students' Association.

Allvin said Springer is a "real enemy of education" who is "abusing her chairmanship." She has refused to hear the association's last six bills, he said.

The tuition pre-payment bill unanimously passed three House committees and it passed the floor 59-1. It then passed the Senate Chairman on Education 8-0. Allvin said he had the necessary voice to get the bill passed on the Senate floor, but without an appropriations hearing, it cannot advance.

Springer said she had to prioritize bills and hear those that are most important and would affect the largest number of people. She said it does not matter that the bill passed the House with no opposition, because many other bills also passed their committees unanimously.

The tuition prepayment bill does not require an appropriation, but since it has potential for "fiscal impact" it must be heard in committee, Allvin said. Allvin worked to secure private start-up funding for the program because he knew it was certain death to ask for state assistance.

The tuition bill would have made it possible for families to begin a 5- to 18-year savings account that, when matured, would cover tuition expenses at either an Arizona university or community college.

The program would have benefitted middle-class families who do not qualify for federal assistance, yet can not afford four years of college tuition, Allvin said.

Republican Sen. John Wetaw of Flagstaff said he spoke with Springer and tried to convince her to place the bill on the calender since it does not ask for an appropriation, but she said she did not like the bill.

Wetaw, a professor at Northern Arizona University, said the tuition prepayment program is constructed legislation that would not help students immediately, but would help them down the road.

The student association is 0-3 this legislative session, but Allvin said it will continue to work on its bills and bring them forward again next year.

Besides the tuition bill, the association attempted to get funding for Project ASPIRE, which did not receive any hearings in its assigned committees.

Project ASPIRE, which stands for Arizona Student Programs Investing Resources in Education, passed the legislature in 1994 in what Allvin coined a "feel good move." Since then, legislators have been unwilling to commit money to the program, which selects at-risk third graders and covers their college tuition if they successfully complete high school and meet other eligibility requirements.

The association's third bill would have given financially eligible college students jobs in the community related to their majors. The state work-study bill died at the steps of the House Appropriations Committee, which refused to hear it as well.

Someone has to talk about affordability in higher education and get the state to realize it is not providing basic aid for needy students, Allvin said.

"We know we're doing the right thing," Allvin said, and the association has many friends in the legislature, but they are not on the "winning side" right now, he said.

This is the final week for House bills to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Wetaw said there was a possibility that the tuition prepayment bill would be tacked on to another bill that would grant tuition breaks to private colleges, but he said it would be difficult for him to support a bill in that form because he is against private college vouchers.