Graphic illustration by Gabriel Utasi/Tribune

The editorial board of Arizona State University’s student newspaper, the State Press, apparently didn’t like the Tribune’s suggestion that the Arizona Board of Regents postpone any further increases in student tuition or classroom fees for at least one year. The State Press responded with an editorial Thursday that says the Tribune is well-intended but ill-informed, because regents have no choice but to keep raising tuition because the Legislature steadfastly refuses to properly fund the universities.

I can’t say I’m surprised by the State Press editorial. Students attending public colleges routinely believe elected officials don’t understand the importance of such institutions, and so they divert tax dollars to purposes of far less value. I certainly believed that 20 years ago when I was attending the University of Wyoming, and made the exact same argument as the State Press in a column for that campus’ student newspaper.

But the facts are the Arizona Board of Regents has increased tuition and other fees at a rate higher than inflation throughout this decade, while the Legislature has funded student population growth during most of those years. Lawmakers have failed to provide enough funding for building construction and maintenance during the good years. But the universities have made their own mistakes, such as when ASU failed to install enough fire sprinklers when it remodeled the Memorial Union.

Arguments about class sizes being too big or not getting the right professor ring hollow when more students can no longer afford to enroll at a public university in first place, or they have to ring up so much debt that their lives are heavily burdened for years after graduation.

And there’s another issue to consider. Capitol Media Services reported in today’s Tribune that some lawmakers are looking to grab the money that the three universities expect to bring in from this year’s tuition increases. So postponing any additional increases for a year is unlikely to harm the universities, but would be a boon for students in a tough economy and might ease growing tensions between the board of regents and the Legislature.