Regents OK Steep Tuition Hikes at ASU, UA, NAU

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Board of Regents on Thursday approved hefty increases in tuition and fees at the state’s three public universities for the next school year.

Incoming Arizona State University students will see their tuition and mandatory fees jump by 18.8 percent — a hike of $1,288 that will raise the annual costs for in-state students to $8,128 starting this fall. Current ASU students will face increases of 11.9 percent to 12.7 percent, or $783 to $817 a year, depending on when they started.

The regents, meeting in Tucson, also approved an increase of 20.5 percent for in-state undergraduate students at the University of Arizona — bringing tuition and fees to $8,245 beginning in the fall semester.

Freshman at Northern Arizona University will pay $931 more a year, or an increase of 15.2 percent. Annual tuition and fees for in-state students at the Flagstaff campus now total $7,053.

NAU officials said new students’ tuition would be frozen at that level for the next eight semesters, though they could pay more in future years via fee increases. About half of the undergraduate students at NAU’s Flagstaff campus are already on fixed-tuition payment plans and won’t see a tuition increase this fall, but their fees will increase by about $167.

Tuition for out-of-state students went up 10 percent at the University of Arizona — to $24,596 per year for undergrads and $24,889 for graduate students. At ASU, out-of-state tuition rose to $20,257 a year for undergrad students and $22,058 for graduate students. It’ll now cost $18,023 per year for non-resident graduate students at NAU’s Flagstaff campus and $20,067 for new out-of-state undergrads this fall.

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic