Regents ok budget requests, address financial aid

The Arizona Board of Regents approved NAU's 2008-09 state budget request, which totals about $28.8 million in additional state funding over this year.

The regents also approved the budget requests of the other two state universities during its meeting Sept. 27-28 on the NAU campus.

NAU's budget request reflects an increase of about $10 million to its preliminary request submitted in August. That is due, in part, to underestimating potential funding for enrollment growth. Final fall 2007 enrollment numbers make NAU eligible for $6.6 million in enrollment growth funding instead of an originally projected $2 million.

The university also added $7 million to its revised budget request that would be earmarked for debt service to pay for renovation of NAU's neediest instructional and student services buildings.

ABOR President Fred Boice noted, "It's important for the universities to go forward with what they need and not in fear of what they might not get."

NAU's revised budget request also includes $2.5 million for a faculty salary competitiveness match. NAU would match a $2.5 million appropriation from the state with $2.5 million from the university's internal revenue.

NAU faculty salaries need to increase by 19 percent to reach the market median of peer universities, according to a personnel report submitted to the regents.

The approved 2008-09 budget request for NAU also includes:

• $6 million for debt service to build a new health professions complex on the Flagstaff campus
• $2.8 million to increase the number of graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines
• $1.5 million to expand access to baccalaureate programs statewide via higher education centers
• $1.4 million to create an Initiative for Society, Energy and the Environment that would take a cross-disciplinary approach to energy and sustainability issues

The university budget requests have been forwarded to the Governor's Office and the Legislature, where they will be discussed over the coming months before the Legislature appropriates funding in the spring.

The regents also considered new models to increase state funding for need-based financial aid. State funding currently represents only 1 percent of financial aid. The models include financial aid grants, a combination of merit- and need-based financial aid, and grants to encourage youth from lower-income families to graduate from high school and go to college.

In 2006-07, financial aid in the university system totaled $988.9 million with 93,646 financial aid recipients.

"In the absence of a robust state financial aid system, we don't have enough students who are aspiring to go on to higher education," said NAU President John Haeger.

In other action, the regents approved a 90-day immediate implementation of a mathematics, science and special education loan program so that students may be eligible for the loans in the spring semester.

The loans would cover in-state tuition, instructional materials and mandatory fees for Arizona students pursuing a teaching degree in math, science or special education. The loans would be forgiven after students complete one year of teaching in those fields for each year of loan support, plus one additional year of service.

The regents also approved NAU's 2009-11 capital improvement plan, which includes longer-term capital needs that are contingent upon future funding sources. The plan includes $152.8 million for expansion of the recreation center and relocation of wellness programs currently housed in the Fronske Health Center; construction of a Distance Learning facility; expansion of swing space on campus; construction of a Residence Life warehouse; funding for deferred maintenance and building renovations; building a parking structure adjacent to the Wall Aquatic Center; and construction of facilities for NAU's health professions programs in the medical-academic complex in Phoenix.

Additionally, the regents granted project implementation and approval for NAU's $15 million infrastructure upgrade.