Correction: From 2003-04 to 2013-14, the average cost for tuition and fees at public four-year institutions in the United States rose 4.2 percent per year after adjusting for inflation, according to the College Board. The time period of the increase was incorrectly described in this article.

Students at the University of Arkansas System's four-year colleges will likely see tuition and fees rise anywhere from 3.5 percent to 6 percent for next year.

Trustees will discuss and vote on the proposed rates at meetings Wednesday and Thursday at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.

The rise in tuition and fees would partly go toward funding faculty salaries and efforts to improve retention and graduation rates, University of Arkansas System officials said.

The increases are necessary because of rising utility costs and not enough state funding, UA System President Donald Bobbitt said. He said most 4-year UA institutions will receive a less than 1 percent increase in state funding, while two-year colleges' funding will remain flat.

"Unfortunately, that's the circumstance," he said. "The Legislature I think has supported higher education admirably over the past five or six years while other states have cut back."

The proposal before the UA board of trustees, which was released Monday, comes after decisions last week by the Arkansas State University System and Arkansas Tech University, both of which raised rates for the 2014-15 academic year.

Nationally, most colleges and universities are considering what have become annual rate increases, too, as campuses rely on student revenue to offset reductions or flat funding from states.

At the UA System, Bobbitt said individual campuses have programs and goals they need money to fund, which also contributed to the proposed increase.

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's aim is to become a top 50 public research university. Under the proposal, tuition and fees will go up five percent, from $7,818 to $8,209, for a student taking 30 credit hours over two semesters in the 2014-2015 academic year.

"When you engage in that sort of worthwhile endeavor, you have to have the resources," Bobbitt said. "In that case, it's really a matter of just trying to put in place the resources so your faculty can do what they need to do and your students can do what they need to do."

Laura Jacobs, associate vice chancellor for university relations for the 25,341-student Fayetteville campus, the largest in the state, said faculty salary is one of the measures in determining the top research institutions.

Cicely Shannon, chief of staff for the University of Arkansas Associated Student Government, said she understands that an increase in the cost of attendance is needed for the university to continue to improve.

"Students are very supportive of us reaching the status of us being a top 50 research university," said Shannon, of Texarkana. "We want our degrees to be valuable."

The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith is scheduled to see the biggest percentage increase. Under the proposal, tuition and fees would rise by 6 percent, from $5,624 to $5,962.

"We still have one of the lowest in the system and lowest in the state," said Darrell Morrison, vice chancellor for finance and administration for UA-Fort Smith, which has about 7,150 students. "We're still behind from a dollar perspective."

One factor in Fort Smith's increase is a student-imposed, $5 per credit hour fee that will fund the building of a new wellness and recreation center.

Annsley Garner, president of the Fort Smith campus' Student Government Association, said she doesn't think the increase in tuition and fees will deter students from attending the university.

"I think that with all the loans and scholarships available for students, if they really want to come, they can find a way," she said.

Under the proposal, tuition and fees at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock would rise 4.7 percent, from $7,601 to $7,959.

UA-Monticello students would pay 5 percent more in tuition and fees, going up from $5,793 to $6,082.

Tuition and fees at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff would increase 3.5 percent under the proposal, from $5,753 to $5,956.

UA Trustee C.C. "Cliff" Gibson III of Monticello said that despite the proposed increases, going to school in Arkansas is relatively affordable.

"We're not even close to the average nationally, which is a good thing for the students," he said.

From 2003-04 to 2013-14, the average cost for tuition and fees at public four-year institutions in the United States has risen 4.2 percent after adjusting for inflation, according to the College Board.

The average cost of tuition and fees at flagship institutions in the United States -- a category that includes UA-Fayetteville -- was $9,647 for the 2012-13 academic year, according to the Washington Student Achievement Council and the Connecticut Office of Higher Education's National Tuition and Fee Report.

Tuition and fees for comprehensive institutions, a category that includes the other four-year institutions in the UA System, cost an average of $7,539 in the 2012-2013 academic year, according to the report.

Tuition and fee rates for UA community colleges will also be discussed at the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday. The proposed increases are:5.4 percent, from $2,212 to $2,332 for Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas.3.9 percent, from $2,495 to $2,593 for Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas.4.4 percent, from $2,700 to $2,820 for the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville.4.7 percent, from $2,271 to $2,378 for University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.4.1 percent, from $3,290 to $3,425 for University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton.

The proposal includes a minimum 2 percent merit raise for faculty at each institution, which some university officials said is overdue.

"In a lot of cases, at the community college level, we have trouble competing with the high schools for quality teachers," said Jim von Gremp, chairman of the board of trustees. "At the university level, our professors certainly aren't on the high end of the scale."

At ASU-Jonesboro -- the state's second-largest four-year university with 13,552 students in the 2013-14 school year -- tuition and mandatory fees will rise 2.8 percent for in-state students taking 30 credit hours, from $7,510 to $7,720 in the 2014-15 school year. At Arkansas Tech, tuition and mandatory fees for an undergraduate student enrolled in 30 credit hours during the 2014-15 academic year will be $7,248 -- a 4.77 percent increase.

Metro on 05/20/2014