Inside this issue: 2020 Vision Targets, Lumina Grant and more

The Arizona Board of Regents is committed to ensuring access for qualified residents of Arizona to undergraduate and graduate instruction; promoting the discovery, application, and dissemination of new knowledge; extending the benefits of university activities to Arizona's citizens outside the university; and maximizing the benefits derived from the state's investment in education.

December 2, 2009 | Issue 02

Charts and Graphs

Financial aid awarded: This chart shows the trends in student financial aid over the past six years at Arizona's three public universities. Among all the categories, State aid has remained flat, causing students and the universities to bear the burden. The three categories that have increased the most are student employment with a 70 percent increase, institutional awards with a 45.5 percent increase and student loans realizing a 35 percent increase during this time period. Over the past six years, financial aid in total increased more than 75 percent.

Degrees awarded: The number of degrees awarded is a key component of the university system's strategic plan and is vitally important to Arizona's future economic growth. In 2008-09, 20,106 bachelor's degrees and 8,562 graduate degrees were awarded throughout the university system. Comparatively, in 2007-08, bachelor's degrees totaled 19,271 and graduate degrees amounted to 7,782. Over the past year, the university system realized a 4.3 percent increase in undergraduate degrees awarded, and a 10 percent increase in graduate degrees awarded.

University system realizes increases in financial aid awards.

Even though tuition costs in Arizona remain among the lowest in the country among similar public universities, students still require financial assistance to attend college. Accordingly our universities' financial aid programs have seen increases in most categories. During the 2008-09 school year, all three state universities had increases in every category - grants, government-financed loans, private loans, institutional aid and student employment, with total financial aid increasing by more than 19 percent.

Even as credit markets came to a near-halt last year, and institutions took steps to boost student awards, approximately 79 percent of the university system's student body received some form of financial aid.

More than $603 million in student loans was awarded to university students, accounting for more than 47 percent of financial aid awards.

22 percent of assistance came from institutional scholarships and awards, amounting to $280.2 million.

State aid accounted for only one percent or $14.2 million

With state contributions to financial aid so minimal, the burden of financial aid falls on students and the universities, but Arizona's university system is dedicated to assisting students in need, estimating a 12 percent increase in institutional aid over the next two years.

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Universities on track to meet 2020 Vision silver performance targets.

The Arizona Board of Regents 2020 Vision is a framework for the Arizona University System to improve the economic strength of our state and quality of life for Arizonans.One of the key indicators of success focuses on increasing the number of college-educated citizens in Arizona.

The 2020 Vision silver performance target is to annually award 28,200 bachelor's degrees by the year 2020. To meet this goal, the universities will need to maintain an annual increase of 3.6 percent each year. After one year, all three universities are on track to meet this key indicator of success. The university system produced a total of 20,106 bachelor's degrees in 2008. This was an increase of 835 degrees, or 4.3 percent, over the previous year. In addition, the universities realized an upward trend of 1.5 percent in the freshman retention rate, 6.2 percent in the number of community college transfer students, and 4.2 percent in undergraduate student enrollment.

View the 2020 Vision

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Arizona wins Lumina grant.

Almost two years ago, the Lumina Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the outcomes of higher education for all Americans, introduced the Making Opportunity Affordable (MOA) grant program. The MOA program sought to provide funding in the form of grants of up to $2 million to support productivity initiatives in higher education that will lead to more Americans obtaining a bachelor's degree.

Arizona put together an impressive grant application that centered on efforts to reform our system architecture and provide a student-centered admissions and advising system - all with the common goal of increasing degree production.

On November 24, it was announced that the Arizona University System was awarded $1.5 million from the Lumina Foundation. We were very pleased to receive this grant, which will be integral to our success in achieving our system architecture reforms. Thanks to Governor Brewer, legislative leaders, and leaders of our universities and community colleges for their leadership and support of this effort.

Read the release

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Impact of more cuts to state investment in universities requested.
In October, Governor Brewer asked for the impact of an additional 15 percent cut in the state's investment in the universities. This cut would be on top of the already $231.5 million in funding that has been eliminated over the past two fiscal years-this at a time when enrollment has grown by 11,000 students. Another 15 percent cut:

is greater than the $134.6 million of annual general fund support for NAU;

corresponds to more than one and a half times the $80.7 million of annual general fund support for ASU Polytechnic and ASU West combined;

represents elimination of annual state funding for 18,675 students - roughly the number of undergraduate degrees awarded last year by the university system;