University forced to make up for lack of investments
Posted 9/25/24
Arizona State University will add a tuition surcharge for on-campus students in spring 2025, and the Arizona Teachers Academy faces an uncertain future — the result of recent budget cuts passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor.
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Arizona State University will add a tuition surcharge for on-campus students in spring 2025, and the Arizona Teachers Academy faces an uncertain future — the result of recent budget cuts passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor.
More than 2,600 Arizona resident students also could be impacted by the expected decrease in ASU’s allocation for the Arizona Promise Scholarship Program, and the university will stop operations and close its Lake Havasu center in the summer of 2025, a press release explained.
The actions taken are intended to ensure that ASU remains financially sound in the face of the defunding of public investment in higher education in the state of Arizona.
ASU President Michael Crow said in the release that these necessary actions are a result of the ongoing lack of public investment into higher education from Arizona state officials. He added that the budget cuts put Arizona behind in ensuring the state has the necessary talent and workforce to support the economy.
“ASU simply cannot be asked to fund the expansion of higher education across the state without state investment as a part of the financial structure to do so,” Crow said.
The recent state budget, passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor, reduced by $11 million the base operating investment in ASU from public resources.
“We have to consider our options to advance the university in a financially sound way,” Crow said. “For whatever reason, state leaders want the public universities to be tuition-driven, independently funded and to advance on their own.”
The state also reduced funding for statewide programs such as the Arizona Teachers Academy and the Arizona Promise Scholarship Program, pushing the estimated real ASU impact from the budget reductions to about $24 million when compared with the prior year, according to the release.
The Arizona Teachers Academy launched in 2018, sparking an increase in new enrollment in ASU’s teacher-preparation programs every fall between 2018 and 2023, the release explained.
Much of that growth is attributed to the Arizona Teachers Academy award, which ensures that recipients have their tuition and fees covered in return for a commitment to teach in Arizona public schools.
The state provides less than 9% of ASU’s total funding, according to the release. Arizona invests half of what is invested per capita on higher education in Texas and Florida, and one-quarter of what is invested in Wyoming.
Faced with these reductions in public investment in higher education, ASU is taking the following actions:
The university will add a tuition surcharge in spring 2025 for on-campus students. The surcharge will be about $350 for full-time students and a proportional amount for part-time students. ASU has increased tuition at a rate lower than inflation for the past eight years.
About 800 new students will not be served through the Arizona Teachers Academy.
More than 2,600 students could be impacted by the expected decrease of $10.9 million in ASU’s allocation for the Arizona Promise Program when compared to the prior year's allocation.
Closing the Lake Havasu center will impact about 225 ASU students and 20 jobs.
ASU at Lake Havasu began in 2012 to bring an innovative higher education approach to a location unserved by the state university system, and it evolved into a close-knit community of students, the release detailed.
University Provost Nancy Gonzales said in the release that the university will engage with every current ASU student there and finalize individual plans to make sure they can continue at an ASU campus or online to complete their degrees.
Area high school dual-enrollment students also will be impacted. Of the lost jobs, some could be transferred to other academic units throughout ASU.
“It’s disappointing that state leaders do not see the value of higher education in places like Lake Havasu City,” Gonzales said. “ASU will continue to do all that it can to serve that portion of the state through ASU Online and agreements with our community college partners.”
“We have to consider our options to advance the university in a financially sound way,” Crow said. “For whatever reason, state leaders want the public universities to be tuition-driven, independently funded and to advance on their own.”
