BENTONVILLE — A tuition increase for certain health-related programs was one of three measures the Northwest Arkansas Community College board approved Monday to help balance next year’s budget.
Students in the nursing, respiratory therapy and physical therapy assistant programs will pay $25 per credit hour above the normal rate starting this fall. That represents increases of 33 percent and 21 percent for in-district and out-of-district students, respectively.
College administrators targeted those three programs for a tuition increase because of the high costs associated with them. Clinical courses require an eight-toone student-to-faculty ratio, according to Debi Buckley, vice president for finance and administration.
“We have excellent job placement in these areas,” Buckley added.
Administrators project the increase will raise $133,000 in additional revenue over the next fiscal year. Regular tuition rates per credit hour are $75 for residents of the Bentonville and Rogers school districts, $122.50 for out-ofdistrict residents and $125 for those from outside Arkansas.
The board also approved recommendations to implement a $75 lab fee for five courses in the new construction technology program and to use $300,000 from the capital fund to pay for expenses related to janitorial services, maintenance and building leases.
The moves are meant to help plug an expected budget shortfall, based on a projection the number of credit hours taken will drop by 3 percent.
The college still must identify cuts of $880,000 to balance the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Trustee Keven Anderson voted for the measures, but expressed concerns about data showing the college is spending about $1 million more on salaries for full-time faculty members than it did four years ago, despite a 10 percent drop in credit hours taken during that timeframe.
“That’s where I’m struggling,” Anderson said. “You’re asking me to vote for increases in fees and tuition, and I’m not convinced we’ve done all we could do to reduce costs on the faculty side.”
The cost of faculty has gone up largely because of the increases built into the faculty salary schedule, Buckley said. She also noted the college has reduced its number of administrators and its overall staffing.
Evelyn Jorgenson, college president, said the college’s salaries must remain competitive with other institutions, including the University of Arkansas.
The board will consider approving the budget for next fiscal year at its May meeting. That will be a balanced budget, but exactly how the college will get there is still unclear, Jorgenson said.
“We continuously scour every part of the budget and see if there are ways we can find more efficiencies, eliminate programs, eliminate positions, not refill positions, any number of things,” Jorgenson said.
The tuition and fee decisions need to be made in advance of budget approval because enrollment for the fall semester begins next week.
“It’s only fair students know what the tuition and fee rates will be,” Jorgenson said.
The college’s budget this year is about $41.2 million.
In other business Monday, the board agreed for the fourth straight year to opt out of a state law allowing staff members to carry concealed handguns on campus, though by a closer margin than in past years.
Act 226, approved by the Legislature in 2013, allows full-time employees who are licensed to carry concealed weapons to carry a gun on the campuses of Arkansas’ universities and colleges unless the boards that govern those institutions agree to opt out of the legislation. The law requires each institution to declare each year its intent to opt out.
The board’s vote Monday was 5-3 in favor of the administration’s recommendation to opt out.
Todd Schwartz, who in past years has been the lone trustee voting against opting out, was joined this year by Anderson and Ron Branscum as “no” votes. Joe Spivey, Mike Shupe, Ric Clifford, Scott Grigsby and Mauricio Herrera voted for the recommendation to opt out.
Ethan Beckcom, a college official, said a survey completed by more than 400 faculty and staff members this year showed about 60 percent opposed allowing concealed handguns on campus.
That percentage is down from past years, when the college’s surveys showed closer to 75 percent were against the idea, Beckcom said.
President’s contract renewed
The Northwest Arkansas Community College board voted unanimously Monday to renew President Evelyn Jorgenson’s contract by another three years. The contract expires June 30, 2019. Additional terms of the contract, including salary, couldn’t be disclosed Monday because the contract hadn’t been finalized, according to board chairman Dan Shewmaker.
Jorgenson began as the college’s third president in July 2013. Her original three-year contract paid her $182,131 for her first year on the job. The board met in executive session Monday and for several hours in March to discuss Jorgenson’s performance before voting to renew her contract.
Source: Staff report
Dave Perozek can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWADaveP.