Date Change Provokes Controversy

Enrollment Date Pushed Back for Senior Citizens at NWACC

A policy change rolling into place with the spring semester will delay enrollment for students age 60 and older who take classes tuition-free at NorthWest Arkansas Community College.

State law requires all public degree-granting institutions to offer free tuition to classes that offer college credit for Arkansas residents 60 or older on a space-available basis.

College administrators call the program the “Golden Age tuition waiver.” College policy states textbooks, supplies, fees not related to tuition, non-credit continuing education credits and independent studies will be at the student’s expense, and other financial aid programs cannot be combined with the waiver.

At A Glance

Around Arkansas

Policies vary among the five schools with the largest number of 60 and older students for credit, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. Numbers represent students taking classes for credit this fall who were 60 by July 1.

• University of Arkansas Little Rock, 253. Senior citizen registration is the Friday before classes start through the next Friday by 4 p.m.

• Pulaski Technical College, Little Rock, 221. Recent policy change means senior students will enroll the last week before registration closes.

• National Park Community College, Hot Springs, 143, No separate enrollment date .

• University of Arkansas, 127, Senior enrollment begins the Friday before classes start.

• East Arkansas Community College, Forrest City, 113, East Arkansas Community College doesn’t list any specific deadline. The school offers a 50 percent reduced tuition for students 50-59.

• Northwest Technical Institute, Springdale, none, Students 60 and older are exempt from tuition, but required to pay for fees and textbooks.

Source: Staff Report

Priority registration opened Nov. 4 for students who took classes this fall, according to the school’s online schedule. Open registration began Nov. 11 and runs through the second day of classes, Jan. 14.

Seniors using the Golden Age waiver to pay for classes will start enrollment Jan. 8.

George Graen worries the late enrollment date will lock him out of class. Graen started taking classes at the community college several years ago. He enjoys oil painting, and has taken the class several times. The instructor teaches at the basic level, but also gives tutorials to advanced students so he is still learning, he said. There are others in the same situation in the class, Graen said.

“We’re not happy with it — the whole class,” he said.

“It should go back to where it was,” Graen said of the enrollment date.

Prior to this semester he was able to enroll with other students, he said.

Other schools in the state have a postponed enrollment date for senior citizens and that was part of the consideration when the school changed its policy, said Steven Hinds, executive director of public relations and marketing at the community college.

“It is part of our mission to serve all students in lifelong learning and encourage them to take classes,” Hinds said.

The administration changed the policy in July. The change did not require a board vote, Hinds said.

There is value in having a mix of generations in class, but college administrators want to make seats for credit-seeking students a priority, Hinds said.

“We do have at least one course where it is quite common to take the class multiple times as a Golden Age student,” he said.

The college has not tracked the number of students who were displaced from classes filled by senior citizens, but it has likely happened in some art classes, he said.

University of Arkansas students who fall under the senior citizen waiver signup the Friday before Monday classes start, said Julie Crawford, senior citizen outreach coordinator for the school.

She asks students to have a few backup classes in mind in case they don’t get their first choice. Schedules change during the first week of school as students add and drop classes. Sometimes teachers will add a seat opening up space.

Some take classes for work, some for enrichment, some to complete degrees they started years before. Crawford has talked to seniors who took basic architecture class in preparation for a European tour and a former professor who went back to school after retirement to take the history classes he missed while taking his engineering degree. Monday she took a call from a student trying to finish his master’s degree under the waiver.

“Each applicant is unique,” she said.

Although the registration day is right before classes start, people who want to take advantage of the free program need to begin the process to become a student early, Crawford said. They must fill out paperwork to qualify for the senior waiver. and might need to check prerequisites or take a placement test for the class.

Few states have a waiver like Arkansas’, Crawford said.

The state law was put in place years ago as a thank you to seniors for a lifetime of contributions, she said.

Finishing a degree or even taking classes for the first time is a benefit to seniors, Crawford said.

“This is one of those big bucket lists things,” she said. “They’ve paid a lot of money in over the years so why not get a little benefit?”

There is no tuition reimbursement program from the state for schools with students who attend under the 60-and-older tuition waiver, said Shane Broadway, director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.

State support for colleges is calculated using teacher salaries, space and the number of full-time students, so senior students could potentially factor into state funding. State money, however, does not cover the amount of need calculated by the state formula.

“It would be hard for me to say they do not receive anything for them, but (I) would say if they do, it would be very, very little,” Broadway said via email.

State money makes up about half the money the school needs to operate with local taxes, tuition and fees filling out the budget, Hinds said.

NorthWest Arkansas Community College enrolled 104 students over 60 in credit and non-credit classes this fall, and 97 the year before, Hinds said.

State law requires institutions to enroll students who are age 60 or older, but how they comply is up to the school, Broadway said. A written policy is not required and each institution does something different, he said.

State numbers show 61 students this fall at NorthWest Arkansas Community College who took classes for credit and turned 60 before July 1. The school counts students who turn 60 before the semester starts, unlike the state.

Graen said he recognizes he is not paying tuition, but he is paying taxes. It isn’t as if he can deduct the school’s millage from his taxes if they are not delivering the service, he said.

Graen, who already holds a doctorate, said the process of signing up and filling out the paperwork for the free tuition is well-worth the trouble.

Still, he questions if pushing back enrollment for senior citizens fulfills the school’s role to serve the community.

“It’s their mission,” he said.

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