ASU President Michael Crow proposed new tuition-setting guidelines to the Arizona Board of Regents which included "not advancing any tuition change" for in-state students at this time, he said in a statement Friday.
Under the proposal, no changes to tuition will come to in-state on-campus undergraduate and graduate students.
The University will make tuition increases next to zero to maintain its commitment of no more than a 3% increase in tuition for resident students.
The proposal comes as students and their families have most likely relocated out of residence halls due to the new coronavirus. The proposal from Crow states that he understands everyone is seeking clarity, and that setting tuition must be a fluid process to allow his administration to respond to "rapid changes."
“The university has the same need — this proposal provides ASU with the flexibility needed in assessing the changing landscape and responding effectively to economic circumstances," Crow wrote in his statement.
For all other students, Crow requested more flexibility in setting tuition fees from ABOR and to cap their tuition increase at 5% over the next three years.
ASU Online students will see a "limited set of fee adjustments," resembling the full-immersion undergraduate student tuition and fees from last year. In his growing list of past commitments, Crow said no student enrolled in an online program will ever pay fees more than those paid by an on-campus student.
Tuition for non-resident students and online students will be announced at a later date, Crow said in his statement.
In the proposal to ABOR, Crow asked that "increases in tuition and fees for Arizona resident undergraduate immersion students must be kept low," and that tuition costs must be made "transparent to families and students".
Going forward, Crow asks that the way tuition and fees are created to be a management decision with help from ABOR.
"ASU must decide tuition on an ongoing basis," Crow said in the proposal to ABOR.
This change would allow "subsequent determination of certain tuition and fees at ASU" for the next three years.
"The Board would set maximum tuition and fee rates," Crow said in the proposal to ABOR. "ASU would then determine the actual tuition and fees charged to students, no greater than the amounts set by the Board."
A statement from the Board states it would not increase resident tuition rates. Each university under its supervision proposed special rates for online programs, non-resident rates and tuition to specific programs and colleges.
"The next event in the process for setting tuition at Arizona’s public universities is a virtual public hearing that the Arizona Board of Regents will hold for students and individuals to comment on the tuition proposals," the ABOR statement reads.
The hearing will be April 27 from 3-5 p.m. Currently, the Board is expected to vote on the tuition proposals on May 7 from 1-4 p.m.
"We are working through all possible scenarios for fall 2020 – both in terms of our education delivery and teaching modes and pricing scenarios," Crow wrote in the statement.
Reach the reporters at pjhanse1@asu.edu and wmyskow@asu.edu and follow @piperjhansen and @wmyskow on Twitter.
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Wyatt Myskow is the project manager at The State Press, where he oversees enterprise stories for the publication. He also works at The Arizona Republic, where he covers the cities of Peoria and Surprise.
Piper Hansen is the digital editor-in-chief at The State Press, overseeing all digital content. Joining SP in Spring 2020, she has covered student government, housing and COVID-19. She has previously written about state politics for The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Capitol Times and covers social justice for Cronkite News.
