Our student leaders and President Robert Shelton have both recently created tuition proposals for next year. The student proposal entails a 2.3 percent increase in tuition, while Shelton’s proposal would entail an increase of 6.5 percent for residents. So, how much of an increase – if any – is fair for Arizona’s students to pay?

Unfortunately, the proposed increases are likely necessary, and they are much higher than a fair increase would be. But students shouldn’t direct their anger over tuition at Shelton’s administration – he simply proposed an increase that he felt was necessary for the good of the university. ÿ

Blame lies on the part of the state, which has left the university out in the cold – thus making Shelton’s proposed increase necessary. Until the state does its part to fund higher education, the concept of a “”fair”” tuition increase is pure fantasy.

– David Francis is a pre-business sophomore.

Expecting tuition to stay the same each year doesn’t make sense. Inflation alone means tuition should go up 3 percent per year just to stay at the same actual level. But I think a better measure of what the long-term growth rate of tuition should be is “”university cost inflation.”” This means that instead of using the same statistic the nation uses for the economy as a whole, which includes everything from coffee beans to lumber, inflation in a tuition sense should mean the extra costs of hiring the same level of faculty and providing buildings, administration and other services. This should be indexed with other universities to make sure the UA doesn’t waste, and it’s important to ensure that tuition is put to good use. And we need to minimize the downsides of tuition via methods such as increasing financial aid. But done right, long-term tuition growth is both expected and necessary.

– Ryan Johnson is a senior majoring in economics and international studies.

Yes, it is true that the Arizona Constitution guarantees that in-state tuition at Arizona’s institutions of higher learning ought to be as free as possible, but that doesn’t mean free. With escalating costs, inflation and a citizenry that has voted to reduce state funding for the three state universities, it is only natural that the UA must look for ways to bring in more money. But rising tuition costs are obnoxious for some and create massive obstacles to education for many. The best solution? The UA should begin selling alcohol at McKale Center and Arizona Stadium and pick up some corporate beer sponsors while we are at it. The advertisements and liquor sales will create huge revenues for the state to play with, so we can stop taxing Arizonans without having to rely on hiking out-of-state tuition costs or cutting the humanities department. Everyone wins.

– Stan Molever is a philosophy senior.

In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to pay tuition at all. But we don’t live in a perfect world, and things cost money. It’s unreasonable to expect the UA’s tuition to remain perfectly constant without increase in a world of escalating costs and inflation. The Associated Students of the University of Arizona’s decision to base their recommended increase on the average increase of household income in Arizona over the past year makes sense. In yoking the tuition increase to average additional income in households in our state, the UA would remain faithful to its mandate to provide education that is accessible to the residents of this state.

– Lori Foley is a senior majoring in English and international studies.