GOP ad blasts DuVal for tuition hikes

• Republican ad denounces Fred DuVal%27s votes on tuition hikes.
• DuVal supporters counter that the increases were because of Republican-led state funding cuts.
• Tuition votes are expected to play a big role in this fall%27s gubernatorial campaign.

A new Republican-funded ad attacks Democratic gubernatorial nominee Fred DuVal for voting to raise tuition sharply at Arizona's three state universities during his tenure on the Arizona Board of Regents.

The TV ad, paid for by the Republican Governors Association, accuses DuVal of doubling tuition and fees while he was a member of the governing board.

Supporters of DuVal are fighting back, saying he had little choice after the Republican-dominated Arizona Legislature slashed funding to the university system during the economic crisis.

The 30-second ad opens with a worried-looking mother lying in bed. The scene flashes to a grim-faced teen getting a pat on the back from his father. The message is that the high cost of college tuition keeps parents awake at night. And that college gets more expensive each year.

"It's just not fair," the ad says.

DuVal, in an interview with The Arizona Republic, responded by saying, "The Legislature handed us over $400 million in cuts, and we cut the campuses deeply but refused to close them."

He added that he worked with the university presidents to bring down the proposed increases "as much as we possibly could" before the recommendations were submitted to the regents for a vote.

During the recession, the Legislature cut funding to a number of services, including the university system. The universities lost $428 million in state funding, or about 50 percent of their per-student money.

DuVal, as a regent from 2006 to 2012, served on the 12-member board that sets policy for the state university system. The regents' duties include setting tuition and fees for Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University.

Annual increases varied during this time, depending on the university and whether a student was in-state or out-of-state. The increases sometimes went up as much as double-digit percentages in a single year. Tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates at ASU, for example, increased 94 percent at ASU from 2007 to 2012 to about $9,700.

DuVal voted "yes" on tuition increases each year during his time on the board. As board chairman, in 2011, he proposed a one-year freeze on tuition rates for the following year, saying the pace of increases was becoming unsustainable. His tenure on the board ended in February 2012. The regents voted later that spring to freeze tuition rates at ASU and UA for in-state undergraduates for the first time in 20 years.

Political observers and DuVal supporters expect Republicans to hammer the Democratic nominee for the tuition increases throughout the general election, saying it's a key item in his record that can be effectively used to attack him without mentioning the deep cuts to university funding that occurred at the same time.

"It's incumbent on him to bring context to the conversation," said Robbie Sherwood, executive director of Progress Now Arizona.

In a statement announcing the ad on Tuesday, the Republican Governors Association said college students in Arizona "can thank Democrat Fred DuVal for their ever-increasing tuition rates." The group contends that DuVal did little to stem the rising tuition.

That same day, Anne Mariucci, a former member of the regents and a Republican, defended DuVal.

"I worked by Fred's side to save our public universities when the Arizona Legislature decimated higher education during the Great Recession," she said in a statement.

The vote to raise tuition kept the universities' doors open, she said. The regents were also able to increase the amount of financial aid available to students from working- and middle-class families.

Also on Tuesday, Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Ducey appeared in a new ad aimed at broadening his appeal beyond the GOP primary electorate. The ad emphasizes his hopes to improve the state's economy and education.

Reporter Yvonne Wingett Sanchez contributed to this article. Reach the reporter at 602-444-8072 or anne.ryman@arizona republic.com