Maricopa County Community College District Board Considering Reducing Tuition For Fall Semester

By Rocio Hernandez
Published: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 - 8:49am
Updated: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 - 10:57am

The Maricopa County Community College District building.
Bret Jaspers/KJZZ
The Maricopa County Community College District building in Tempe.

The Maricopa County Community College District’s board is considering lowering tuition for its students next fall.

It heard nine tuition reduction proposals at its Tuesday meeting. The most generous would offer free tuition to all students, but most board members, including its student representative Alejandra Maya, leaned toward proposals that include tuition discounts of 50% for the fall semester and 25%  for the spring semester. The option that includes the 50% reduction is estimated to cost the district up $37.1 million while the 25% option is estimated to cost up to $20.1 million. 

The tuition reduction is part of an effort by the district to reverse several years of declining enrollment throughout its 10 colleges.

Board member Laurin Hendrix thinks free tuition would reduce incentive for students.

“They tend to complete their classes when they have some skin in the game so I’m a bigger supporter of them having something in it even if it’s not a big amount," he said. 

But board member Tom Nerini would like to see the district go further in solving this issue.

“I would rather take this money and invest it in a comprehensive enrollment management program where we include admissions, where we include financial aid, where we include academic advising ... so that it’s not just this one time deal that we're going to fill up the classes for next semester, but where we're planning to fill up the classes for the next 10 years," he said. 

The board expects to move forward with a tuition reduction plan next week. 

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