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TUCSON - Thousands of Arizona students could soon be paying more for college.

Thursday the Board of Regents will decide on proposed tuition hikes for all three state universities. U of A is looking at a 22 percent hike, that's about 1500 bucks more for in-state students..

UA President Robert Shelton said it's needed to cover the 170-million Governor Jan Brewer wants to slash from higher education.

Under the Governors plan the U of A would lose 67 million dollars. President Shelton said the university is cutting 39 million from itself. That leaves 28 million dollars that would need to come from somewhere and it's likely to come on the backs of students.

In state students could soon be paying more than $10,000 a year. Out of state it's more like $25,000. University officials said it certainly looks bad but looks can be deceiving.

Johnny Cruz a University spokesman said, "When people see the tuition price it's important to understand that it's not the sticker price. The University has a robust financial aid program so the average student doesn't pay anywhere close to what the sticker price is to attend the university.

But students we talked to said that provides no comfort at all.

Danyelle Foord is a junior paying out of state tuition at the U of A. She said, "Since freshman year it's gone up a little every year, so by this point it's a lot of money I feel like, for my parents too especially since I have a younger sister also attending college. So a little does go a long way especially when it increases every year"

Matt Cornelison pays in-state tuition. He said, "I know a lot of people who are actually having to work specifically to stay in school to get the funds to stay in school and for those people this would be very problematic."

David Wright is a graduate student. He said, "It's unfortunate because I think education is the foundation of our society.

But despite all the angry students the University said interest in becoming a Wildcat is still high. Cruz said, "Still in spite of all the cuts the University has taken, interest in the University has never been higher. Applications and enrollment has never been higher. Even in the past few years as we have had to take cuts and increase tuition."

The Board of Regents meeting began Thursday morning at 9:00.

Stay tuned to News 4 Tucson and KVOA.com for the latest on this meeting.