Maricopa Community Colleges are calling the state of Arizona to restore foundational operating aid. The colleges say they have received $0 in state operating aid since 2015. Since recession-era cuts eliminated operating aid, the District says it has gone without more than $655 million in state support. This has forced the District to rely exclusively on tuition and local property taxes to maintain its operations.
Currently, Maricopa Community Colleges and Pima Community College are the only two districts in the state that receive no such funding. In 2024, the District educated 125,226 Arizona residents, surpassing the combined in-state enrollment of all three Arizona public universities.
Steven R. Gonzales, Chancellor for the Maricopa Community Colleges, joined “Arizona Horizon” to explain the issues through this process and how they can be resolved.
According to Gonzales, the Maricopa Community Colleges were eliminated from receiving aid in 2015, then reintroduced into the budget shortly after. Still, the community colleges still have not received any funding.
Pima Community Colleges have also found themselves in a similar situation, not receiving funding they were promised by the state.
Apart from Maricopa and Pima Community Colleges, all other community colleges across the state are still receiving funding.
“We are the largest provider of workforce development in our state, which goes hand-in-hand with a strong economy,” Gonzales said. “Since 2015, what the loss of this aid, it has really harmed our ability to expand important programs.”
According to Gonzales, the community colleges have an over $9 billion impact on the state, and if they had access to funding, they would hope to do more.
“We would like for our state legislatures to see the Maricopa Community College District as an investment that the state makes,” Gonzales said. “We’ve been able to prove that for every dollar you invest in Maricopa Community Colleges, you’re going to see a $4 rate of return.”
