New university tuition structure

A new tuition structure was just approved by the Arizona Board of Regents. The new structure includes multi-year tuition setting to increase cost predictability for resident students at the universities. Board of Regents Chair Elect Fred DuVal joins Ted to discuss what this means for Arizonans.

According to DuVal, Arizona has one of the lowest percentages of people with a post-high school degree.

“We need more students coming to community colleges and colleges, how do we do that?” said DuVal. “We start with the conversation that’s happening at, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of families around the state: is a college education worth it?”

DuVal added that these conversations revolve around financials and tuition cost over time. To address the total cost of a degree, the Arizona Board of Regents implemented a new tuition structure that moves toward a six year rate.

“We can tell Arizona families, here’s what it will cost for your student to get a degree,” DuVal said.

With the new tuition policy revision, university presidents present to the board for approval maximum growth rates for resident tuition, academic fees, and meal and housing plans in six-year cycle. The board and universities revisit growth rates during the fourth year of the cycle to account for economic adjustments.

“Things happen in the economy, inflation et cetera, so you need a little bit of optionality, but we want to do it outside the context of four years of incoming freshman,” said DuVal. “We might make periodic adjustment at the end of that four years for the next cycle, but you can count on what this is going to cost to get a degree.”

The structure includes setting maximum tuition growth rates and provides a lever for the board to hold tuition increases if the state increases General Fund appropriations to the universities.