Governor Napolitano introduced two prospective new members of the Arizona Board of Regents to the Capitol press Sept. 2 and she and the nominees were immediately questioned about the board’s recent increase in university tuition.

The new regents, whose nominations are subject to Senate confirmation, are Lorraine Frank and Ernest Calderón, both of Phoenix. Ms. Frank was director of the board’s Commission on the Status of Women from 1989 to 1991. Mr. Calderón is an attorney with Jennings, Strouss & Salmon.

The tuition increase, slightly more than $1,000 per year, was approved by the board in May. The Regents are the governing body of the state’s public universities.

A reporter noted that the Arizona Constitution says instruction furnished at the state’s universities “shall be as nearly free as possible,” and another asked, “How to you intend to insure that education remains available and affordable≠”

The governor said the May increase put tuition rates at the state’s three universities at the “top of the bottom third” of state university systems nationally and that “if you kind of stay at that level, which has been the regents’ plan, you meet the constitutional requirements.”

Before voting on the tuition increase, the regents had discussed the subject for months as part of “Changing Directions,” the name given to a reform of the university system which stresses research.

Tuition Went From $2,583-$3,593

The increase the board approved in May raised in-state tuition for undergraduate students to $3,593 from $2,583, the biggest increase in 20 years. Four University of Arizona students have filed a lawsuit against the board challenging the legality of the tuition hike.

Ms. Frank and Mr. Calderón said they had no immediate answer to the question of university education affordability.

“I’m not approaching this position with a bag full of solutions,” Ms. Frank said. “The importance of the quality of our universities is so high that we cannot let anything diminish the funds that are already there.”

Mr. Calderón said his parents could barely afford to send him to college. “I’ve not lost sight of that,” he said. “I will do whatever I can to come up to speed on the tension between higher costs and student affordability, with the hope we can support the governor in her mission of making sure we have quality education available to the working person in Arizona.”

Ms. Frank will replace Don Ulrich of Paradise Valley on the board. Mr. Calderón will replace Kay McKay of Flagstaff.

Both Ms. Frank and Mr. Calderón are Democrats and worked on Ms. Napolitano’s campaigns for attorney general and governor. —