Arizona Board of Regents approves multi-year plan for tuition

The Arizona Board of Regents — the governing body for Arizona’s public university system — last week approved a multi-year structure for setting resident tuition.

The goal is to provide students and families with increased predictability for college costs, according to the board.

Under the policy change, university presidents must set “maximum growth rates for resident tuition, academic fees, and meal and housing plans in six-year cycles” and seek approval for those rates from the board, according to a board press release. The board and universities will “revisit growth rates during the fourth year of the six-year cycle and extend the cycle by four years,” the release said.

Increases had been set yearly, though Arizona State University has limited resident tuition increases to 3% or less annually for the past few years, according to the board.

The policy change prohibits tuition increases if the Arizona government increases “appropriations for general operations or university student financial aid or a combination of the two on an ongoing basis,” according to the press release. The increase must be more than 2.5% of total tuition and fee revenue for a tuition freeze to apply.

“We are making a clear and simple offer to the Legislature,” said Fred DuVal, incoming regents chair. “If the Legislature commits to a sufficient level of committed multi-year funding, we will cap tuition.”

If state funding for universities is reduced, the new policy allows university presidents to set tuition rates higher than the maximum growth rate.

The new policy eliminates course fees and requires board approval for new academic fees. Universities can still charge fees specific to a particular program or college and fees for a specific purpose, activity or service.

Moving forward, next-year tuition rates will be published earlier in the academic year. The board will now announce tuition rates by Dec. 31. Last year, the regents approved tuition and fees for the upcoming academic year in April. This April, the board will consider tuition and fees for the 2023-2024 academic year and maximum annual tuition growth rates through the 20282029 academic year.