Students and UA community members are pushing back against the Arizona Board of Regents proposed tuition and fee hikes, scheduled to be voted on during today’s Regents’ meeting on the UA campus.
The Associated Students of the University of Arizona have even created a Facebook event urging students to show up at today’s scheduled 2:05 p.m. call to the audience. Titled “Voice Opinions on Looming Tuition and Fee Increases,” ASUA president Michael Finnegan said the scheduled call to the audience is the last opportunity for student’s voices to be heard before the Regents choose whether or not to approve hikes.
EVENT LINK: https://www.facebook.com/events/1292791474108178/
But as students are arriving at the meeting today, they are finding that the Regents are refusing to hear comment on the subject of tuition and fees. The Regents are citing public hearings they held around the state on March 28 as the reason why, claiming they have already done their diligence in hearing the public’s input.
“I do believe if students are really passionate against these fees and hikes they should say something,” Finnegan said. ”I’ve noticed a lot of inaction from students and frankly if they want these fees to fail they need to do something, because right now they are going to pass.”
Finnegan shared the ASUA event on his own Facebook page, but added a personal quip to students who may feel particularly passionate: “Come to the Arizona Board of Regents meeting tomorrow and voice your opinions on student issues. If you chain yourself to the doors ill join you.”
RELATED: New UA students facing fee increases, tuition bump
Staving off yearly tuition and fee hikes is an annual task for the ASUA leadership, but Finnegan said having both the vote to raise tuition and fees for incoming students paired with the decision to approve the nearly million-dollar contract with incoming UA president Dr. Robert C. Robbins on the same day is in poor taste.
“I think that president Robbins is very qualified, but accompanying this vote [to approve his contract] with hikes on Arizona families and students leaves a bitter taste in my mouth,” he said.
Robbin’s proposed pay comes out to $988,000 a year, which would make him the highest paid public university president in Arizona history.
The proposed fees and tuition bumps have many layers and would effect students differently, but main points of contention include:
- A 1 percent tuition increase for incoming freshmen
- $100 athletics fee for undergraduates
- $50 atheltics fee for graduate and professional students
- A nearly 50 percent increase in the Health and Recreation fee
- A more-than-doubling of the Student Services fee
Find out more about the proposed tuition hikes and fee increases here: New UA students facing fee increases, tuition bump
Many of the proposed fees and tuition bumps will not apply to UA students currently enrolled in the guaranteed tuition plan.
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