ASU President Michael Crow has produced a second video to explain the University's financial situation to students.
In a meeting with The State Press editorial board Thursday afternoon, Crow said he used the 11-minute video to answer common questions students have about tuition.
“I can tell from the kinds of questions that we're getting from students that we're in an unprecedented moment in the United States that is hard for everyone to grasp,” Crow told the editorial board.
The video had not yet been made available Thursday evening, but Crow said that in the course of answering students' questions he dispelled the notion that ASU raises tuition to generate a profit and discussed how athletic programs are funded.
The video was scheduled to be posted to the ASU Web site Thursday night or Friday morning.
Crow also told the editorial board he had rejected calls for a midyear tuition increase and also proposed a tuition increase for next fall that would still not fully make up for this year's cuts in state funding.
“It's actually an extremely, in my view, student-focused, tuition-conscious, cost-of-education-conscious proposal,” he said.
Crow said the state had already cut appropriations to ASU by $60.3 million this fiscal year, which he said were the largest cuts in the University's history. The administration's proposed tuition increase and funding increases from expected enrollment growth would only give the University about $45 million in additional revenue.
He said the University is treating the current economic turmoil as a temporary situation, comparing it to a hurricane.
“You basically batten down the hatches, do the best that you can and kind of weather your way to the other side and then repair when the hurricane's over,” Crow said.
