State legislators could pass a bill in February that would require the state to fund all three universities equally on a per-student basis.
House Bill 2246 would distribute state funding equally per student, meaning the funding a university receives will be determined by the number of students enrolled there.
Proponents say the new bill could put an end to discrepancies in state funding they say heavily favor UA. The measure has gained bi-partisan support from members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, including sponsors Laurin Hendriz, R-Phoenix; Rep. Lucy Mason, R-Prescott; and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert.
Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, said the current funding system gives UA, a university of about 36,000 students, the same amount of total funding as ASU, a university of about 67,000 students. On a per-student basis, UA gets a disproportionately high amount of funding, Ableser said.
UA has “half the number of students as ASU, but gets the same amount of funding,” he said. “I don’t think that’s fair.”
According to the 2009 Fiscal Year Appropriations Report from the Arizona Board of Regents, ASU received $479 million in state funding, while UA received $418 million and NAU received $161 million.
If HB 2246 passes, it would drastically increase funding to ASU, which would receive about 55 percent of higher-education state funding. UA would see just over half of that, about 30 percent, while funding to NAU wouldn’t change much.
The bill calls for an outside entity, not the Arizona Board of Regents or any universities-affiliated group, to determine the amount of per-student funding each university receives.
Sen. Meg Burton Cahill, D-Tempe, said this would ensure fair and objective funding, because “the data needs to be compiled by people who don’t have a horse in the race.”
Board spokeswoman Andrea Smiley declined to take a position on the bill, but said funding must be determined based on their individual missions, programs and needs.
“Enrollment is one element you have to look at, but you also have to look at the different missions and priorities of the school when you’re considering funding,” Smiley said. “There’s a much more detailed analysis that needs to occur.”
Greg Fahey, associate vice president of the UA government relations department, agreed with Smiley. He said state programs unique to UA, such as the College of Medicine and agriculture department, called for different funding needs.
“Over the history of the university system, there have been appropriations for buildings, building support, research projects … and then there’s the College of Medicine,” Fahey said. “There are all kinds of different programs, so it’s pretty hard to boil it down to one number that each student should get.”
Rep. Rae Waters, D-Phoenix, a sponsor of the bill, compared the state university funding system to the current K-12 system, which sees huge disparities between under-funded and well-funded schools.
“While I understand the universities have specialty areas, I believe that whether you go to ASU, NAU or UA … you should have the same resources and opportunities,” Waters said. “It’s an issue of equity.”
Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.
