Arizona State University law school considers cutting off funding from state
The Arizona Republic
November 2, 2010
Arizona's state universities are on a fast track to making some of their professional schools financially self-sufficient, an unprecedented shift that would mean higher tuition to cover the loss of state funds for operations.
Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law is the first school slated to convert to the new model, a kind of privatization.
A handful of business and law schools at other public universities has already gone this route. The universities' belief is that tuition is a more reliable source of revenue than the funds allocated every year by politically inclined, and sometimes cash-strapped, state legislatures.
By breaking off one or more self-sustaining arms, the universities can maintain or improve the quality of those schools. Plus, they would free up state money to benefit other programs. Otherwise, cuts might have to be made to all or selected programs. Undergraduate programs would not go independent.The emerging trend is not without its critics. Higher tuition would force some students to go deeper into debt from student loans. Taking multiple schools off state money for operations could undercut the Legislature's sense of obligation to maintain or increase university funding.
