You go, Brnovich: No excuse for a 370% tuition hike

Commence the hallelujahs. At long last, somebody’s taking on the Board of Regents over the outrageously high cost of tuition at Arizona’s universities. Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Friday sued the regents, saying they have “dramatically and unconstitutionally” increased tuition and fees by up to 370 percent over the past 15 years.

The lawsuit says the board has “abandoned its duty to serve as a check on the university presidents” and allowed an “unprecedented series of lockstep tuition hikes” that violate the state’s constitutional mandate to keep college “as nearly free as possible.”

“ABOR has raised the base tuition and fees for in-state students … at approximately nine to 10 times the rate of inflation and approximately 12 to 13 times the rate of increase of median family income over the period covering the last 15 years,” the lawsuit says. That’s going to leave a mark. Brnovich also is challenging the regents’ decision to continue offering instate tuition to qualified undocumented students. No surprise there, given that the state Court of Appeals in June ruled that those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program don’t qualify for in-state tuition.

The shocker — and a pleasant one, at that — was Brnovich challenging the overall runaway cost of tuition.

He notes that the cost of attending an Arizona university was about $2,600 a year in 2002-03. This year, it’s $12,228 at the University of Arizona (a 370 percent increase), $11,059 at Northern Arizona University (a 325 percent increase) and $10,792 at Arizona State University (a 315 percent increase).

No doubt, the universities will blame the Legislature for the massive hikes. Indeed, our leaders have slashed perstudent state funding for universities by 63 percent over the past 10 years, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. But in that same time, the regents have boosted tuition by 90 percent (at ASU) to 121 percent (at the UA).

So I’m not buying that excuse. And neither is Brnovich.

In addition to massive tuition hikes, Brnovich says the regents are illegally forcing students to pay fees for things such as athletics, recreation and health. And illegally charging part-time and online students more than the cost of furnishing instruction. And illegally stifling competition. “The fact that all three institutions’ tuition was hiked in lockstep over a 15year period … means that ABOR acted to prevent any meaningful competition based on price,” the lawsuit says.

This isn’t the first time the regents have been sued over tuition. Four UA students sued in 2003, after a 39 percent tuition hike. But the students lost, with the state Supreme Court calling it a political question. Now, the courts are once again being asked to stop the regents’ end run around the Constitution.

Or does the near-quadrupling of tuition over 15 years — outstripping the growth of family income 12 to 13 times over — now count as a college education that is “as nearly free as possible”?