AZ High School Graduate Tuition bill passes Senate!
The Arizona Senate passed SB1217 - AZ High School Graduate Tuition bill 18-12 with strong bipartisan support! This is a historic moment for our Arizona.
SB 1217 is the first step in Arizona towards helping all Arizona High School graduates reach their potential. SB 1217 would allow Arizona Board of Regents and the community college boards to set an Arizona High School graduate tuition rate at a reasonable cost. Increasing higher education access for all Arizona High School graduates will advance the Achieve60AZ goal of having 60% of Arizona adults, ages 25 to 64, obtain a postsecondary credential or degree.
Saul Rascon, a senior at Brophy College Prep Academy states, “All I ask is for elected officials to do the right thing for students and our state. My hope is that all Arizona High School graduates have a reasonable pathway to achieve our higher education dreams. Many of my friends spend countless nights contemplating their future after high school. We have done our part, studied hard, joined extra curricular activities, and given back to our community. I pray for the passage of SB 1217 because I know that having access to affordable tuition will give us a ray of hope towards realizing our potential and our dreams.”
Kate Saunders, a Graduate Student at ASU states, “This bill is important to me because it would have helped me when I came back to Arizona for my Master’s Degree. I was born in Utah and grew up in Arizona since I was 3 years old. I graduated Mountain View High School in Mesa and got my bachelor’s degree at ASU. Arizona is the only place I’ve ever paid taxes, voted, and had my license. I left the state to travel abroad for a teaching artist grant to work on a performance project and when I came back to begin my master’s degree I was denied in-state tuition. This was a huge shock because I grew up here, graduated high school and college but then all of a sudden could not afford to do my master’s here. In the process I began to look at programs in other states like Colorado and Illinois and I wonder how many people we have lost in Arizona because of situations like this when we could be making it more accessible for professionals to continue their education here.”
We hope that SB1217 passes the House of Representatives and makes it to Governor Ducey’s desk. SB1217 will help our state close the education gap for Arizona high school graduates to attain higher education or technical schooling. We are excited to see this bill move forward and we are grateful for all the senators who voted yes and believe in our youth.
Things are moving fast, we highly encourage you to join the campaign! Sign up at alientoaz.org/arizonasfuture
Reyna Montoya, founder & CEO of Aliento states, “Arizona is currently losing our youth talent to other states due to the high cost of attending public colleges and universities. Thousands of Arizona high school graduates are priced out of a higher education due to high cost of the out of state tuition rate. Arizona already invests over $125,000 in educating every student K-12. It makes no sense to invest in students K-12, and then price them out. According to the Achieve60AZ goals, for every college graduate who earns a four-year university degree, the state receives a $660,000 return on investment. SB1217 will allow all Arizona high school graduates to achieve their higher education dreams.”
