FINANCIAL NEED INCREASES

Financial aid during FY 2016 increased to $2.4 billion at Arizona’s public universities, an increase from $1.5 billion in FY 2010.

Keeping college affordable is essential to increasing educational attainment in Arizona. College costs and available Financial aid is increasingly important for students at our public universities.

In FY 2016, Arizona students relied on approximately $2.4 billion in financial aid — an increase of almost $200 million over the prior year. Excluding loans, the largest source of aid was institutional grants funded by the universities. Per ABOR policy, a portion of tuition is reserved for need-based financial aid ($236 million in FY 2016). Additional institutional aid is also granted for merit-based scholarships awarded on the basis of academic, athletic or other achievement.

Arizona’s university system provided $622 million in institutional aid in 2016 and estimates that number will increase by $81 million over the next two years. During recent years, the number of university students receiving aid in Arizona has also substantially increased. In FY 2016, more than 92 percent of the entire student body received some form of financial aid. The number of Pell eligible students – students from low-income families – has increased from 22 percent in 2007 to 35 percent in 2016; however, this percentage has remained static over the past three years.