Colleges and Universities
University
Enrollment: Prior to the present enrollment policy, 50% of the upper
graduating class of each Arizona high school was enrolled unconditionally in the
state’s universities. The new policy approved by the Arizona Board of Regents is
to reduce the number of Arizona high school graduating seniors enrolled
unconditionally in the state’s universities from the top 50% of each graduating
class to 25-10%. The Board of Regents policy gives flexibility to the state
universities to go to the new 25-10% standard or remain using the 50%. The University of Arizona will implement the
25% standard. The impact of this new Arizona policy is 75% of the freshman class
at the U of A could come from out of state students and from other countries.
Arizona taxpayers will foot the bill for out of state students at the U of A
replacing Arizona’s graduating seniors. This is an issue that affects all
Arizona taxpayers. The issue of Arizona taxpayers not being able to enroll their
children in the state’s universities cuts across political parties and
ethnicity. This is an issue that lends itself to building bridges between
Hispanics and non Hispanics. ALEC should take the lead in approving a state
wide referendum protecting Arizona’s high school graduates’ rights to enroll in
Arizona universities.
A second part to a state wide referendum should be to roll back tuition
and fee increases. It is a paradox to increase tuition and in the same moment,
seek funds to subsidize scholarships. The burden of seeking scholarship
assistance is made more efficient by non Hispanic recipients with more resources
to draw from obtaining financial assistance. Hispanics not accustom to processes
usually get left out of successful grant applications.
The third part of the referendum would be to lock in adequate state
funds for community college and university education.
The four part of the referendum should be to put university teachers
back into the class room. Presently, university research faculty have a 60-20-20
ratio of the time they must spend in the classroom. 60% is in the classroom
teaching, 20% of their time is aside for research and 20% of their time is spent
in community participation.
University research faculty is paid to attend community meetings in
Arizona. By providing for this participation, university research faculty dilute
the amount of time spent in the classroom creating diminished schedule of
classes. This prevents students from enrolling in required graduation courses
leading to extended semesters to complete required course work.
By requiring university research faculty to return to the classroom and
by extending the school year to tri-semesters, schools would be efficient in use
and the result would be to maximize the scale of economies adding more education
for the sa
me tax dollars. It is an abuse of tax payer funds not to utilize million
dollar facilities at maximum use and capacity every day of the year.
With the
recent restructuring of the universities to become more selective in
enrollments, the restructuring did not go far enough. The role of the community
colleges should be expanded to truly serve as feeder schools to the universities
but also provide greater educational opportunities. Community colleges should
offer four year degrees in all disciplines.
ALEC will establish a Colleges and
Universities Task Force to address the above and other concerns and formulate
recommendations for ALEC to implement.
