Constitution mandates that instruction be furnished “as nearly free as possible”
Commentary
Absent a dramatic change, the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board will decide the amount of student tuition increase, if any, at the February Board meeting. Over the past ten years, the Board has increased tuition in some form every year. There is no reason to believe that the Board, driven by the West-County Voting Bloc, will not increase tuition at the February meeting.
But does the Board’s obsession with annually increasing tuition comport with the intent of Arizona’s Constitution regarding the cost of instruction to students? The Blog believes the answer is clearly “no.” Here is why.
The Arizona Constitution states the following: “The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible.” Below are listed some of the reasons that explain why this mandate has not been followed by the Governing Board (a majority vote only since 2013 ).
- Student tuition is currently being used to repay the bonds purchased to renovate the student residence halls and in part to install new power plants on the Prescott and Verde campuses. Rather than put that obligation on the back of students, the alternatives were to (1) use primary tax revenue to pay for these projects or, (2) seek voter approved General Obligation Bonds that would be repaid by a secondary property tax throughout the District. Failure to chose either of the available alternatives violated the Constitution because without the annual bond obligation, student tuition would no doubt be less.
- The Board could decide to immediately relieve the pressure on tuition by deciding to use primary tax revenue to pay the annual principle and interest on the outstanding $12 million. The need for a tuition increase would vanish.
- The College launched a $103.5 million capital development program in December 2013. Rather than seek approval from voters for General Obligation bonds to fund such a huge project, the College Administrators chose to use primary tax revenue as the financial backbone of the program. Because primary tax revenue was sucked up to pay for renovation and new buildings, tuition had to be increased to keep the College from folding. Failure to ask voters to approve General Obligation Bonds for ;the huge development program necessarily caused an increase in tuition, which resulted in violation of the Constitution.
- The College sets tuition in some courses at what it called “market based.” Clearly, using “market based” as a criteria for setting tuition violates the language of the Constitution. Note that “market based” tuition at Yavapai College ranges from $116 per credit hour to $550.
It seems pretty clear that in a variety of ways, the Governing Board violates Arizona’s Constitution. However, because the difference between four-year tuition at a state university and the Community College is so great, the gap covers up the fact that student instruction at the Community College is not being furnished as nearly free as possible.
Below is a chart showing how tuition was increased in 2017 by the Governing Board by a 4-1 vote (McCasland dissenting).
