$182,949 funding loss seen at UAM

Score is too low on performance

MAGNOLIA -- The University of Arkansas at Monticello faces losing more than $182,000 in state performance-based money partly because not enough students progress toward graduation.

The school fell below the minimum score in a performance-based funding formula.

The university earned 5.16 points of the maximum 10 and was the only public university or college to fall below the minimum score of 6 this go-round. The scores are based on mandatory measures, which can give a university up to 4 points, and optional ones, which can give a university up to 6 points.

The mandatory scores are based on the number of bachelor degree credentials awarded; the number of total credentials awarded; the number of science, technology, engineering, and math credentials awarded; and progression toward graduation. Of those, the university didn't earn any points for progression. Of the 11 optional measures, it earned a full point in only two categories.

"They were literally three degrees on average short of meeting that 6," said Tara Smith, senior associate director of institutional finance for the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. She added that UAM also lost nearly $20,000 in regional grants. "Had that measure been a positive, the university would have been above a 6. They are very, very close to being at that 6."

Because the school fell below the minimum score, it could have lost up to 10 percent of its $13.1 million in general-revenue funding, Smith told the Higher Education Coordinating Board. The board met Thursday and Friday in Magnolia.

Colleges and universities get their funding primarily through three sources: student tuition and fees; state appropriations; and private donations. For years, the state provided its funding based largely on enrollment. Now, state funding has another component -- student academic success.

The performance-based funding model began after state legislators passed a law in 2011 tasking higher-education officials in the state with creating a new model. Originally, the performance-based funding would have increased 5 percent each year until it reached 25 percent.

But that amount was capped at 10 percent until all public higher-education institutions are funded at 75 percent on the need-based formula, which is based on enrollment figures.

The further a college or university falls from the 6-point minimum score, the more the Higher Education Department can subtract from the 10 percent. Because the Monticello university fell just below the minimum, the department will take only a portion of the 10 percent from its funding for the 2015-16 academic year.

"While we're not happy that we're going to lose $182,949.48, we're more unhappy with what led up to the reduction," said Jay Jones, the university's interim chancellor. "We are working right now with retention."

The 3,854-student university is historically among the four-year public universities with a high percentage of students who need remedial classes. First-time students who score below 19 in math, English or reading on the ACT college-admissions exam are required to complete noncredit remedial course work.

UAM had 64.2 percent of 522 students needing remedial courses in fall 2014, according to Higher Education Department data. That was a decrease from the 67.2 percent of 506 students needing remediation the year before.

Jones said he knows the high remediation rate places the university at a disadvantage.

"But we still need to own this and overcome it," he said.

UA System President Donald Bobbitt said Friday that he has discussed the situation with Jones.

"Both he and his faculty understand the situation but are not satisfied with this result," Bobbitt said. "UAM serves a large proportion of first-generation students, and it is clear that the institution must redouble its efforts to help these students succeed. This is important not only for UAM's future, but also for the future of UAM's students and their families."

The university's officials are working on "more intense advising" designed especially for students considered "at-risk," Jones said. They are also working on enhancing the "first-year experience," to include a transitional class to give students more information about what to expect, he said.

Jones said that the university just last year required freshmen to live on campus, a move that he said hopes will have a positive effect on retention.

Remediation and retention go hand in hand, Higher Education Department Director Brett Powell said.

The Monticello school had the lowest one-year retention rate among public four-year universities for students entering in fall 2012. Of the 726 students entering, only 307 -- or 42.3 percent -- stayed on for the next year, according to Higher Education Department data. Of those, 215 continued in fall 2014.

The retention rate increased slightly the next year: the school kept 289 -- or 46.4 percent -- of the 623 students who enrolled there in fall 2013, the data show.

Institutions know where they are struggling in some areas; taking away money will hurt them more, Powell said. The funding model is "all or none" -- institutions either meet the criteria or they don't, he said.

"I would really like for us to rethink the way that the funding model works," Powell said. "The performance model -- the way it is designed -- doesn't work well for institutions. It's not an encouraging model. It's a penalizing model."

The department will also compile remediation data this summer from colleges and universities, he said. The plan is to identify the tactics that have been working and possibly emulate them elsewhere, he said.

Metro on 05/02/2015

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