KOLD News 13 live, local and late breaking-UPDATE: UA increases surcharge to $1,100

UPDATE: UA increases surcharge to $1,100

By Barbara Grijalva - bio | email

The state's three universities are struggling to come up with new ways to offset multi-million dollar budget cuts.

Now students may be asked to pay a surcharge of up to $1,100 a year.

But the Arizona Board of Regents is open to other ideas too.

A Board of Regents tuition task force held a video conference call to hear those ideas on Thursday.

In a memo to the regents, University of Arizona president, Robert Shelton explains that the UA will be $1,100 short for every full-time student because of state budget cuts.

Shelton says that's even with federal stimulus money that's expected to come to Arizona.

At the video conference, representatives of all three state universities presented their ideas for offsetting the massive budget cuts they are having to make.

The Board of Regents had asked the universities for a list of their problems, and their ideas for new fees and other ways to bring in more money.

If it is approved, that $1,100 surcharge could last a few years, even longer if necessary.

"It depends on the board, but what we would propose after all the discussion is through is having a surcharge that would exist on a permanent basis until the state support comes up to some level. And then we could supplant that surcharge with state support," Shelton said in an interview with KOLD News 13 before the meeting.

Nothing was decided at the meeting.

The full Board of Regents' meeting will be in Tucson at the end of the month.