2021-22 Tuition and Fee Proposals

Memorandum

To: Arizona Board of Regents  
From: Robert C. Robbins, President - UArizona
Date: March 11, 2021
Subject: 2021-2022 Tuition and Mandatory Fee Proposals

I am pleased to submit the University of Arizona’s tuition and mandatory fees proposal for the 2021-2022 academic year. As a reminder, more than 99% of continuing undergraduate students will experience no increase in tuition or mandatory fees for 2021-2022, due to their enrollment in the tuition guarantee program.

As I have shared with the Board, the University of Arizona’s strategic plan creates a bold, distinctive, and differentiated vision for our future. By its very nature, the plan calls for strategic and nuanced decisions around investments; investments that allow the University to tackle society’s biggest challenges and prepare graduates to successfully carry forward the torch of inspirational human endeavor. Tuition and fee increases are one small piece of institutional funding strategies for these investments, along with increased operational efficiencies, general appropriations, investment income, auxiliaries income, and available reserves. Combined, they allow us to propel forward our vision under the strategic plan’s five pillars:

• The Wildcat Journey – driving student success for a rapidly changing world
• Grand Challenges – tackling critical problems at the edges of human endeavor
• The Arizona Advantage – driving social, cultural, and economic impact
• UA Global – engaging the world
• Institutional Excellence – ensuring UA lives its values and innovative culture to enable a high performing academic and administrative enterprise

In a similar spirit of making strategic, nuanced decisions, the UA proposes the following increases to tuition and mandatory fees for 2021-2022:

• Undergraduate, guaranteed resident tuition will increase 0%
• Undergraduate, guaranteed non-resident tuition will increase 1.4%
• Undergraduate, non-guaranteed tuition will increase 1.4%
• Graduate, resident tuition will increase 1.4%
• Graduate, non-resident tuition will increase .7%
• College of Medicine-Tucson resident tuition will increase 3.0% and non-resident will increase 1.0% for first-year students, while second through fourth year resident and non-resident students will see no increase for the 2021-2022 academic year.
• College of Medicine-Phoenix resident tuition will increase 3.0% for first through fourth year students, and non-resident tuition will increase 1.0% for first through fourth year students for the 2021-2022 academic year.
• College of Veterinary Medicine, resident and non-resident tuition will increase 2% for first-year students, while the second-year cohort will see no increase for the 2021-2022 academic year.
• Mandatory fees will not increase for the 2021-2022 academic year, with the exception of the Recreation Center Program fee which may increase annually based on the Consumer Price Index, and the Arizona Financial Aid Trust fee, which increases based on an approved tuition increase.

As a reminder, incoming undergraduate students for the 2021-2022 academic year will be guaranteed the new tuition and fees rate for four consecutive years. Incoming graduate students for the 2021-2022 academic year will be guaranteed the new mandatory fees rate for four consecutive years. Our student leadership continues to share that the tuition and fees guarantee remains a valued program by students and parents, allowing them to plan for the cost of attendance across the life of a student’s experience at the University of Arizona.

All of the enclosed materials are a result of collaborative dialogue with student leaders from the Associated Students of the University of Arizona (ASUA) and the Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC). Beginning in May when new student leadership takes office, university leadership hosts multiple conversations with student leaders, engaging in a dialogue on the proposal after sharing detailed information about the University’s historical and current financial picture, projected trends in revenues and expenses, peer institutional data, and the need for additional institutional investments. Through collaboration, compromise, and thoughtful discussion, the group supports the tuition and fees increases as noted above.

I look forward to the upcoming opportunities to discuss this proposal with the Regents and to their continued support as we advance the mission of the University of Arizona and deliver on the promise to serve the diverse population of our state in ways that meet the unique needs of Arizonans.