USA: Seniors protest change in Alaska's tuition waiver

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Associated Press), September 21, 2005

Senior citizen advocates armed with more than 5,400 signatures urged the University of Alaska Board of Regents to continue its policy of waiving tuition for the state's oldest students.

Alaskans age 60 or older can take classes without paying tuition if seats are not filled by paying students.

"This is good public policy, it is good preventive health policy, it is good educational policy," said Patrick Luby, advocacy director for AARP Alaska.

University President Mark Hamilton earlier this year recommended ending the waiver but said Tuesday he was willing to compromise by raising the eligibility age to 65 and offering a 50 percent tuition waiver.

Regents are scheduled to vote on the proposal Wednesday. They also are considering a 10 percent general tuition hike -- the fourth in four years -- to take effect in September 2006, to be followed by a 7 percent increase a year later. Typical undergraduate tuition would increase from $1,392 a semester this fall to $1,530 a semester in 2006 and $1,632 a year later.

Tuition covered 43 percent of the cost of instruction before the first increase went into effect, Hamilton said.

"With this increase we will move to 50, versus the national average of 66," he said.

The biggest outcry over the changes came from the older, nonpaying students.

"This is the most mail, e-mail, phone calls, personal contacts and public testimony on a single issue in about 15 years," said Brian Rogers, president of the Board of Regents.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.