Crow: ASU is affordable for all, despite what tuition lawsuit says
ASU president: Attorney General Mark Brnovich says many Arizona students have been priced out of our school. That's not remotely the case.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich recently suggested that Arizona State University should return to the good old days of the 1980s when tuition was “low.”
He is so certain that the 1980s were a better time for ASU that he has filed a lawsuit against his own clients – Arizona’s public universities – in order to bring about such an outcome at ASU, University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University.
As is common with nostalgic thinking, however, it fails to reflect or remember the reality.
What ASU was really like back then
In the 1980s, ASU was not yet a successful public university because it was not yet capable of ensuring the likelihood of success for its students. The good old days remembered by Mr. Brnovich were the good old days for only a small proportion of the university’s students and relatively few Arizonans more generally.
In 1985, the freshman class was 85 percent white with only 225 Hispanic students. Fewer than 2 percent of students were from families in the lower half of family incomes.
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Thirty-five percent of the 1985 freshman class dropped out during the first two semesters. The four-year graduation rate was 13.8 percent — that is, only one of every seven actually earned a degree in four years. The research funding level was about $29 million, placing ASU in the non-research university category.
At that time, the cost of tuition made little difference because the resources were insufficient for students to succeed at the university. The institution had very limited resources, which significantly limited its capacity to provide a quality education and ensure student success.
No wonder we had a bad reputation
In short, the university model of the 1980s that Mr. Brnovich showers with praise — while ridiculing the university model we now operate in 2017 — was an underperforming university doing a poor job graduating a primarily middle-class white student body.
Suffice to say, ASU did not benefit from a great reputation.
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The ASU of the 1980s was also run like a government agency. Heavy government funding (more than 60 percent of the ASU budget vs. around 10 percent now), low tuition/low financial aid, low productivity, limited innovation and slow change — all are indicators of an outmoded model of a public university.
This model did not work well in 1985, and it would work even less well in 2017 amid quite different economic and social challenges.
What ASU is like now (it's much better)
In 2017, our performance at ASU is very different:
About 50 percent of ASU undergraduates from Arizona are from families in the lower half of family incomes, compared to 2 percent in 1985.
About 85 percent freshmen retention rate, compared to 65 percent in 1985.
About 50 percent minority students, including about 3,000 Hispanic students in the 2017 freshmen class vs. 225 Hispanic students in 1985.
About 24,000 graduates vs. about 6,200 graduates in 1985.
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About 70 percent six-year graduation rate.
Greater than 52 percent four-year graduation rate (about an 85 percent increase since 2002).
About $2,000 average net tuition paid per year by Arizona resident students in 2017 in real dollars. That's less than the net tuition paid by Arizona resident students in 1985.
About $530 million in research funding (ranked in the top 10 of all U.S. universities without a medical school in the U.S. and ranked among the 100 leading research universities in the world). This translates into more than 10,000 research projects that provide extraordinary opportunity and experience for our students.
Here's how we made those changes
The reason for these changes in performance and impact is the rejection of the “good old days” model where our performance communicated clearly to many that ASU was not a serious university. Here’s how we’ve changed our university to achieve significant outcomes:
We have developed a new institutional design focused on student success.
We implemented strategic goals and established metrics for student success and excellence.
We have created a culture of innovation at all levels of the university and have been named the most innovative university in the country three years straight.
We have created a new financial model for student access, enabling greater opportunity for students from all income levels.
Taken together, our new approach has positioned ASU now to be one of the highest performing public universities in the U.S.
The truth about what we charge
This new model and successful outcome does not mean that we want tuition to be high for in-state students. Just the opposite.
The market price for ASU tuition is actually determined in the marketplace by our out-of-state and international students. That price is about $30,000 per year. Thousands pay it. We successfully compete in that market.
For Arizona residents, we do not charge that market price. We charge around $10,000, one-third of the market price. But, in addition, we offer financial aid for this $10,000 tuition/price.
That financial aid goes to about 75 percent of our students from Arizona for merit (academic prowess in high school) and financial need. The net result is an average net tuition for Arizona residents of about $2,000. This is one-fifteenth of the market price for a year at ASU.
And then there’s this: the attorney general continues to paint a picture of a large number of Arizona students priced out of higher education. In fact, no student who is academically qualified to attend ASU will be turned away. Regardless of his or her ability to pay, we will work with anyone who wants to attend ASU to ensure their success.
I can say with confidence that ASU today is delivering great value to students from Arizona at a cost of tuition as close to free as possible.
Michael M. Crow is the president of Arizona State University.
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