ABOR Announces New Student Record System to Track Arizona High School Graduates' College Attendance Rates Nationwide

Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) President Ernest Calderón recently announced that the Regents and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) have finalized an agreement with the National Student Clearinghouse to track the number of high school students in Arizona who move on to college, including two-year, four-year, public, private, trade school and vocational institutions nationwide. Never before has Arizona had the ability to track this information. Previously, Arizona has only been able to tap into the number of high school students who enroll in one of Arizona's community colleges or public universities. With this agreement, ABOR and ADE will have a wealth of information at their fingertips about Arizona's high school student college going trends.
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Rick Myers Confirmed to Arizona Board of Regents by State Senate

Rick Myers of Tucson was confirmed to his post at the Arizona Board of Regents yesterday by the state Senate. Regent Myers replaces Fred Boice, who closes out an eight-year term with the Board. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve Arizona as a member of the Board of Regents and would like to thank Governor Brewer for the nomination and the state Senate for the confirmation, said Regent Rick Myers. Read more.

Mark Killian of Mesa has been appointed by Governor Brewer to replace Regent Bob Bulla as his term comes to an end. Killian is a business owner and was formerly Director of the Arizona Department of Revenue and a state legislator. Until he is confirmed by the Arizona State Senate, Regent Bulla will remain on the Board as a voting member.
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Legislative Update

In an attempt to help fix our state deficit, lawmakers last week approved a measure to send an initiative to the ballot that calls for a temporary one cent sales tax increase. Voters will have the chance to approve the initiative during a May 18 Special Election. If passed, the temporary sales tax increase would be effective from June 1, 2010, to June 1, 2013, and would raise about $940 million per year. Those funds would significantly mitigate additional reductions in funding for public safety, education and health services. It would also help the state adhere to the Maintenance of Effort requirements of the federal stimulus law.
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Annual Tuition Hearing

The Arizona Board of Regents' annual tuition hearing will be held on March 1, 2010, from 5pm - 7pm. This public, interactive hearing is a chance for Regents to hear testimony and comments from the public, students and other interested parties regarding the level of tuition and mandatory student fees for resident and nonresident students at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and The University of Arizona for the 2010-11 school year. The university presidents will release their tuition and fee recommendations on February 19.
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Regent Fred Boice Honored for his Service to the Board

A long time resident of Southern Arizona, Fred Boice's eight-year term as a Regent is coming to a close. Regent Boice has been a key player in shaping and promoting higher education in the State of Arizona. His accomplishments include serving two consecutive terms as Board president (something never done before); assisting in shaping the Arizona Board of Regent's first long-term system-wide strategic plan for the university system that had significant financial implications, and working diligently to promote plans and policies aimed at pushing Arizona to be nationally competitive by increasing the number of Arizonans with bachelor's degrees by expanding lower cost options.

Regent Boice has been a key player in dealing with complex and important issues such as tuition, affordability, and financial aid. During his tenure, records were set in enrollment, retention, graduation rates and diversity. He established the Tuition Task Force over two years ago, which began the process of examining issues of tuition policy and affordability, and was a key leader in expanding the Regents set-aside to ensure that as tuition prices increase, more resources are targeted to need-based financial aid. The Regents sincerely thank Fred Boice for his service and dedication to higher education.
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What Does This Chart Tell Us?

Over the past several years, the universities' funding structure has changed significantly. The state is paying a much smaller share in comparison to the students and due to the temporary nature of stimulus funds, universities have restructured programs and staffing in order to manage operations.

As the university system works to secure adequate resources in order to achieve the 2020 Vision targets, it is imperative that we focus on total funding - combining tuition, fees and state appropriations - and not just the state's general funds. Looking at total funding provides an overview of all aspects of operational funding.

The above chart illustrates the comparison of funding between our peers, FY2010 operational funding for Arizona universities, and the expected average cost of high-access programs for full-time enrolled students. As you can see, our peer institutions are funded significantly higher than our universities - almost $21,000 compared to $16,000. However, our new high-access programs and campuses are expected to average just over $9,000, which will provide another strategy for maintaining affordability and help offset future funding gaps.

At the January Board Meeting, scenarios were presented for FY2012 that demonstrated a total funding gap between $209 million and $239 million. Over the past two years, tuition increases and federal stimulus dollars have offset the decline in state funding and minimized the operational funding gap. Moving forward with the new system architecture, even if the Board determines that tuition increases are necessary to minimize funding adequacy gaps, will help the system stay on track to meet strategic goals, maintain affordability and secure adequate resources.
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Regent Bob Bulla's term closes
Arizona Board of Regents to unveil new website
Overview: Presidents' Tuition Recommendations
Committee Updates
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