Who's in your wallet?

Basically, it comes down to this:

• Facing even more budget cuts for 2010 (on top of the $57 million cut for 2009), the Arizona Board of Regents is considering raising tuition even more than it originally approved in FALL 09 (next semester).

"And if the universities were to ask for another increase, they may not be bound by a long-held standard that requires tuition at the universities to be in the bottom third when compared to peer institutions across the country. " http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/280980.php

• Fees of up to $1000 for things such as technology and libraries have been proposed. The advantage of fees (from the perspective of the administration) is that they do not require approval from ABOR and it's difficult to fight them. The disadvantage is that graduate students do not have fees paid by the tuition remission in their GAT and RA-ships. For a graduate student who makes $18,000 a year, a $1000 fee increase would be equivalent to a 5.5% pay cut.

• None of this goes to solving the increasing class sizes, increasing prices and the suffering K-12 education that might make our job even harder when these students come to college less prepared.

"If we can't get a hold on this soon, we're not only going to be driving away businesses from this state; we're going to be driving away families who might not want to come here." — Rep. Nancy Young Wright, D-Oro Valley"
"The universities took more cuts than any other state agency. This year, education was the No. 1 casualty. Next year, let us be your No. 1 antidote." — University of Arizona President Robert Shelton " http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/byauthor/280234

Want to see how the cuts are being accommodated at U of A? http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/related/280977