Arizona Will Raise Tuition Almost 10 Percent

The Arizona Board of Regents turned flip-flopper when it reversed its previous day's decision and voted on Friday to allow the University of Arizona to raise tuition by almost 10 percent. The original plan centered on a 3.7 percent increase in tuition for next year, but Regent David Martinez, also a current student, changed his vote after other regents and student leaders convinced him that a tuition hike was necessary to maintain the school's quality. The nearly 10 percent bump also came packaged with a guaranteed-tuition program, which would use steady tuition increases in the future, as opposed to drastic jumps every several years.

Tuition will be raised by $545, to $6,076 for the next school year. Under the previous plan, which raised fees by just 3.7 percent, tuition would have gone up $206.