Higher education notebook

Tuition, fee going up at college in PB

Southeast Arkansas College trustees last week approved increases in tuition and a student fee for the spring semester, the first such increases for the college since 2013.

The board approved a $2 increase in tuition, which will rise to $84 per credit hour, college President Stephen Hilterbran said. Trustees also approved a $1 increase in the student activity fee, which will rise to $3 per credit hour, he said. The new rates will take effect for the spring semester.

Most of the 1,466 students at the community college take nine to 10 hours of classes, he said, adding that those students will see an increase per semester of about $50.

The college last raised tuition in spring 2013 after the board gave the go-ahead for an increase of $2 per credit hour and a $1 per-credit-hour increase in the student activity fee. The activity fee was created in 2012 to support student organizations.

The fee increases will allow the college to create more student organizations, including a gaming group, Hilterbran said.

The Pine Bluff college plans to use the extra money from the tuition increase to purchase manufacturing training equipment. Hilterbran said the college was hoping to receive a state grant to help offset the $270,000 in equipment, but the college was not selected for the grant.

The college tapped into its reserves to start two career pathways -- in industrial maintenance technology and machine operations -- by fall 2016, Hilterbran said.

Group at Tech wins $6,000 for food aid

A $6,000 grant will help Arkansas Tech University in Russellville get a food pantry off the ground.

The 12,009-student university won The Campus Kitchens Project and CoBank grant after the Because We Can student group, two faculty members and a school staff member produced a video and entered it in the competition, according to a news release.

Arkansas Tech's video was one of three finalists, winning 2,763 votes online, the news release states.

The grant will help the student group create a food pantry and food recovery program for people on campus and in the community, the news release states. The program will target people who do not have reliable access or a sufficient quantity of nutritional food.

The initiative allows students to fight hunger and food waste by gathering surplus food from community gardens, restaurants and grocery stores.

$250,000 gift funds scholarship at UCA

The University of Central Arkansas in Conway has received a $250,000 donation that will create an endowed scholarship fund.

The gift is from the late Donna Stephens, a 1968 graduate of the university. Stephens was a certified public accountant who started her own firm in Conway. She died in January 2013, and her family has created the endowment in her name for Faulkner County students studying accounting.

The first recipients of the scholarship are Spencer Freyaldenhoven and Kevin Wan, both seniors from Conway.

Metro on 11/15/2015

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