Trustees for Arkansas Tech University in Russellville and Henderson State University in Arkadelphia met separately Thursday and raised the cost of attendance at each university.
Tuition and residence-hall rates at Arkansas Tech's main campus in Russellville will increase by 2.87 percent -- from $209 per semester credit hour to $215 per credit hour -- in the coming academic year, along with faculty and other employees' salaries, the board of trustees decided Thursday.
The university also is changing its fee structure so that students are charged per credit hour in four areas rather than a flat fee as in the past.
The changes mean a typical full-time undergraduate student taking a total of 30 hours over two semesters will pay $7,740 during the 2015-16 school term, compared with $7,248 this term.
At Henderson, trustees approved a 3.25 percent increase in tuition -- from $199 per credit hour to $207 per credit hour -- Thursday and at least one fee after considering the proposal during hours of budget talks earlier this month.
A typical full-time undergraduate student taking 30 hours over two semesters now pays $7,561 in tuition and mandatory fees. During the 2015-16 school year, an in-state undergraduate student will pay $7,801 in tuition and fees.
ARKANSAS TECH
Arkansas Tech spokesman Sam Strasner said the tuition increase -- part of the school's $158.9 million operating budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year -- was necessary in part to help finance a 1 percent cost-of-living raise for employees. He also noted that state funding for higher education has been "flat."
Additionally, he said, "We are operating a lot of programs in the sciences and technology and engineering," which are "more costly to operate but very important to operate for the economic development of the state."
Strasner said the school, which had 12,002 full-time undergraduates last fall, has grown rapidly-- 183 percent since 1997 -- and now ranks third in full-time undergraduate students behind the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and Arkansas State University at Jonesboro.
Trustees also voted to increase residence-hall rates by 6 percent, the specific costs of which vary by dormitory, but won't take up meal rates until a future meeting.
The university said in a news release that the adjusted fee structure "will provide greater equity for part-time students, and for some, reduce the total cost of attendance."
Students taking a full 15-hour load each semester would be hit harder, though.
The school's assessment fee, for instance, will go from a $12 flat rate to $2 per semester credit hour next term. The fee for a part-time student taking six hours would stay the same, while a 15-hour student will pay $30 per semester next term.
The technology fee will go from a $130 flat fee to $11 per credit hour in 2015-16. The technology equipment fee will go from a $10 flat rate to $1 per credit hour. The transcript fee will rise from a $7 flat rate to $1 per credit hour.
Trustees also agreed to raise the student communications fee from $2 to $3 per credit hour and the instructional support fee from $5 to $10 per hour.
In addition to the 1 percent across-the-board salary increase, the board approved a 2 percent bonus for faculty members and nonclassified employees for this fiscal year and a merit-pay increase of 1 percent to 3 percent for classified workers during the next fiscal year, Strasner said.
Tuition at the university's two-year Ozark campus will also rise from $103 per credit hour to $113 per credit hour next term.
HENDERSON STATE
At Henderson, money from the tuition increase will be used to enhance regional marketing, provide a cost-of-living adjustment for faculty members and help to support a student success programs, university spokesman Tonya Oaks Smith said.
This year's increase in tuition is the lowest the university has seen since the 2008-09 fiscal year, HSU President Glen Jones said, noting that "we are sensitive to rising costs for our students and their families. When preparing this budget, we asked university leaders to be judicious in their spending and to be conservative in their requests so we could make our funding go further."
Additionally, Jones said Henderson -- which had 3,625 students last fall -- is "working to align our budget to support a strategic plan that is increasingly focused on delivering greater student services and on enhancing our students' success in the classroom and beyond."
The board also voted Thursday to increase the university's band fee by 50 cents per credit hour, up from 25 cents. University officials noted that the fee had never been increased before and will be used to add scholarships for band students, as well as instrument maintenance and repair.
The marketing and student success programs that will benefit from the tuition increase are part of a strategic plan rolled out last October. Smith said the plan is designed to "move the long-term vision of the university forward."
According to the plan's marketing section, the university's "education and our mission set us apart from other universities, and our goal is to enhance Henderson's regional, state and national profile so that many more people, from prospective students to lawmakers to potential employers of our students, will know this.
"In order to enhance our profile, we will develop a branding guide, redesign the website, strengthen relationships with external audiences, and launch an integrated media campaign."
The student success portion of the plan notes that university officials hope to develop new programs and enhance the Honors College, along with "increasing experiential learning opportunities, and developing specific certificate programs all contribute to increasing the quality of our students' education and expanding their opportunities."
Additionally, Henderson officials are looking to "increase off-campus enrollment, online learning opportunities, and concurrent enrollment fulfills the needs of the communities we serve and a changing student population while granting more students greater access to a superior education," according to the student success portion of the strategic plan.
State Desk on 05/22/2015