State legislators are once again sparring over how much the state university system can live without. Early projections have this number at $170 million, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the state decided to lop off even more than that.
As a result, the Arizona Board of Regents met Tuesday to discuss the best way to absorb the looming cuts. Each of the three state universities presented plans, and while not yet complete, ASU seemed to have the most thorough plan to deal with these budget cuts.
Regents have required the first $100 million in cuts to be taken without raising tuition — meaning it won’t come out of students’ pockets. The rest of the cuts, however, will have to be offset by tuition. Amazingly, after possible reorganizations and consolidations, it looks like ASU could get by with a tuition increase of about $450 for in-state undergraduates. UA, for comparison, could see a $1,400 spike.
While we don’t want to see tuition jump at all, the fact is it could be much worse. ASU President Michael Crow could have asked for a much steeper increase and there is a good chance he would have gotten it.
"He's not going to take us from $8,000 to $13,000, which he could very well make an argument for,” Regent Ernest Calderón said at the meeting.
It’s true that this plan looks good in perspective. The other steps ASU is considering hint at a commitment to keep tuition from jumping too high.
But this still doesn’t mean that everything is rainbows and unicorns here at ASU.
Since the spring of 2009, when the first round of gargantuan budget cuts went through, the University has eliminated 17 percent of bachelor’s programs, 20 percent of master’s programs, and 15 percent of doctoral programs.
“We've been in a force-4 hurricane for two and a half years. It looks like it's continuing. So for us, it looks like normal weather," Crow told the regents.
Also, the most important part of this plan is contingent upon several factors.
The University plans to have the law school fully privatized by fiscal year 2017. Crow would implement this by raising law school tuition 10 percent every year, so eventually the law school would be self-sustaining and no longer need public funds. This would free up some funds for the rest of the University.
Another crucial part of the plan is the expansion of the online campus. The University has a lot of room for growth in this area, and it looks cost effective.
The most impressive part of all this, though, is that the University has actually managed to increase freshman retention rates in the face of massive cuts — from 77.2 percent retention in 2007 to 84 percent now.
Is it possible to continue providing a quality education, increase research and expand the student body all while the University is starving for cash? Well, the next couple of years will tell, but if this financial anorexia is not addressed soon, ASU may find itself in a much worse position.
