A bill aimed at capping state university tuition increases to 2 percent yearly was held after discussion in Arizona’s Senate Education Committee today. The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Sylvia Allen, wants to hold a stakeholder meeting before proceeding.
Allen told the Daily Wildcat Newspaper that when the measure was introduced the original goal was to give in-state students more predictability, especially after 2012 when the average tuition at state public universities increased by about 19 percent.
The Arizona Board of Regents opposes the measure. Eileen Klein, the board’s president, says they’ve been working hard with state schools to find other, more flexible, ways of keeping tuition hikes in check.
"So that model just doesn’t work," Klein said. "We absolutely have to have flexibility and encourage our universities to be entrepreneurial without putting them on just a complete growth trajectory that doesn’t meet the needs of the state of Arizona."
Klein adds the state Board of Regents has been invited to the stakeholder meeting, and she looks forward to working with Allen.
