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Tuition for in-state residents attending the University of Arizona could rise by up to $726 next year — pushing the annual bill to more than $6,000 — under proposed guidelines the regents will consider this week.

While members of the Arizona Board of Regents are not scheduled to approve tuition for the state's three public universities until later this year, they will meet in Flagstaff this week to consider setting upper and lower limits on tuition by giving institutions three price points from which to choose.

At the high end of the proposal, undergraduate UA residents would see their tuition increase by $726. The mid- range increase would raise tuition by nearly $450, while the low end would increase tuition by almost $170, according to figures prepared for the Board of Regents.

Depending on which proposal is selected, the increases will give students an annual bill of somewhere between $5,700 and $6,260, including tuition and fees. Currently, the UA charges undergraduate residents $5,542 annually in tuition and fees.

Tuition at Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University would be capped at the same amount as the UA, according to the proposal, though the midrange and low-end increases for the state's other two universities differ slightly from the Tucson university's.

The proposal to give all three state universities parameters in setting tuition is a change from past years; usually, university presidents, student lobbying groups and other interested parties have brought proposals to the regents for approval.

The change, which is being tested for the first time this year, is part of a larger initiative aimed at addressing how tuition is set annually.

By putting out potential tuition increases early in the process, the regents are taking the lead as opposed to waiting for others to come up with figures, said Regent Ernest Calderón, vice president of the board.

"What we're trying to do is signal to the presidents what we believe would be a reasonable range, so they can then put together a thoughtful proposal," Calderón said.

While the program is new, it's already generating controversy among administrators, students and other interested groups, he said.

"I'm hearing it from every direction," Calderón said. "Everybody supports it to a certain extent and opposes it to a certain extent."

Student Regent David Martinez said that while he understands the need for the UA to increase tuition in the face of declining state support, he thinks students are being unfairly targeted. While Martinez said he wasn't ready to support any particular proposal, he hoped that regents would consider the strain they're putting on Arizona families.

"We need to put the onus back on the state to make adequate investments in higher education to ensure that budget cuts won't be put on backs of students," he said.

But because universities are funded mainly by state tax dollars and tuition money, a decline in one area necessitates an increase in the other, Regent President Fred Boice said.

Tuition increases can be tempered when portions of the money are pumped back into financial aid to help those hit hardest by the rise, a practice that all three universities have implemented, Boice said.

But continued increases may be pushing tuition to a point where middle-class families or those who just miss qualifying for financial aid are getting priced out of an education, he said.

"Wherever you set the bar, the person just over that bar is not going to be a very happy camper," Boice said, referring to financial aid.

The income threshold for financial aid and whether Arizona residents can afford another increase are key issues that will have to be addressed as the tuition proposals move forward, said Michael Slugocki, a UA senior who is chairman of the Arizona Students Association, a student lobbying group.

"A lot of people in the middle class and working families don't necessarily qualify for financial aid," he said. "Sometimes they get the short end of the stick."

On StarNet: Keep up with more happenings around the University of Arizona with Aaron Mackey's blog at go.azstarnet.com/ campuscorrespondent