The head of the Pima Community College District will ask the college’s governing board Wednesday to increase tuition on each of the college’s six campuses next year.
Chancellor Roy Flores is recommending that the board increase both in-state and out-of-state tuition, but he is not recommending a specific increase.
Instead, Flores is offering the board documentation regarding the average proposed per-unit tuition increase at Arizona’s community colleges as a frame of reference.
The average proposed increase is $3.74 per credit hour, or 6.5 percent, at Arizona’s nine other community college districts, board documents show.
Last year, Pima’s board raised tuition by $2.50 per credit hour, bringing in-state tuition to $49.50 per unit with $4 per semester in mandatory student fees.
The year before, PCC kept its tuition increase to $1 per credit hour.
Tuition and fees for Pima are the fifth lowest in the state for community colleges.
The highest-priced community college is Coconino, which serves Flagstaff, Page, Williams and Grand Canyon and charges in-state students $75 per unit.
State funding for PCC was slashed by 17.2 percent, or $3.9 million, at the beginning of this fiscal year, and then by an additional 6 percent, or $1.46 million, in January.
Board members have said a priority is keeping tuition “reasonable” but have also conceded that state cuts would likely require a larger increase in tuition than in the past.
Even if PCC follows the proposed average increase among its peers, it would still be a bargain when compared to the tuition and fees at the University of Arizona, which will charge in-state students a minimum of $5,997 annually this fall.
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IF YOU GO
The Pima Community College board meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the board room of the district office, 4905 E. Broadway.