NAU tuition increase proposed;
40% of Flagstaff students exempt

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.—More than 40 percent of undergraduates at Northern Arizona University’s Flagstaff campus will see no tuition increase next year, according to NAU President John Haeger’s 2009-10 tuition and fees recommendation to the Arizona Board of Regents.

The students already are part of NAU’s Pledge program, which guarantees the same tuition for four years for new freshmen and transfer students.

For other students, Haeger put forth two tuition recommendations.

The first is to establish tuition for students entering the fall 2009 Pledge program. The other recommendation proposes “moderated” tuition increases for continuing students and graduate students, who are not
part of the Pledge program.

Haeger recommended setting the four-year Pledge tuition for new 2009-10 resident students at $6,153. That tuition will remain unchanged for those students for four years. The only increases those students would see would be in required fees.

For continuing resident undergraduates who are not in the Pledge program, Haeger recommended a 6.5 percent tuition increase plus fees. Tuition and fees for those students on the Flagstaff campus would be $5,648 in 2009-10.

“I think everyone is well aware of the economic distress both the nation and the state face,” Haeger noted. “I have carefully weighed the anticipated impact on Northern Arizona University and balanced that with a moderated tuition increase to keep a college education at NAU affordable and accessible.”

Haeger also recommended a 6.5 percent tuition increase plus fees for resident graduate students on the Flagstaff campus. Their combined tuition and fees would be $6,067.

Nonresident undergraduates and graduate students on the Flagstaff campus would pay an additional $400 in tuition plus fees, according to Haeger’s recommendation. As a result, nonresident undergraduates would pay $16,057 in tuition and fees, and nonresident graduate students would pay $16,482.

“My tuition recommendation acknowledges the significantly higher tuition paid by nonresident students, which is why I went with the $400 increase versus a 6.5 percent increase,” he said.

The president’s recommendation proposes a 6.5 percent tuition increase for resident undergraduates and graduate students in NAU statewide programs and at NAU-Yuma. Nonresident students in those programs would pay $400 more than their current tuition. No additional fees are proposed for NAU’s statewide programs or at NAU-Yuma.

The tuition recommendations do not impact about 5,400 students on the Flagstaff campus who started in the Pledge program this year. Their tuition will be the same next year as this year. These students will pay an additional $160 in previously approved student fees in 2009-10.

In addition, Haeger said the Pledge program offers students predictability in the cost of education, which families “desire and value.”

Haeger noted that NAU’s proposed tuition for 2009-10 keeps the university in the bottom third of a 50-state survey of senior public universities. Just this month, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine ranked NAU as one of the nation's best values in public colleges.

Haeger, along with the presidents of Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, released tuition and fees recommendations today.

The Arizona Board of Regents will sponsor a tri-university tuition hearing, to be broadcast via interactive TV, on Monday, Nov. 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. The NAU tuition hearing sites are:

• Adel Mathematics building on the Flagstaff campus
• Academic Complex at NAU-Yuma
• NAU-North Valley facility in Phoenix, Room 134

Those who cannot attend the hearing can send their comments via e-mail to Stella Galaviz, Arizona Board of Regents, at stella.galaviz@azregents.edu; by regular mail to 2020 N. Central Ave., Suite 230, Phoenix, AZ 85004; or by fax to (602) 229-2555. All comments received before Nov. 28 will be shared with the regents in advance of the Dec. 4-5 ABOR meeting at ASU in Tempe during which the regents will vote on tuition.