University of Central Arkansas students will pay more to attend the Conway campus in the 2018-19 academic year than they did in the previous academic year.
Trustees on Friday set the general registration and mandatory fees for students.
The rates mean that an Arkansas resident who takes 30 undergraduate credits for the fall and spring semesters will pay at least $8,751.20 in tuition and mandatory fees, not including room and board, books and other expenses, according to documents presented to trustees before their vote.
In 2017-18, students paid at least $8,524 for the academic year.
The increase -- which is in fees, not tuition -- amounts to $227, or about a 2.66 percent increase. Fees going up are in technology, facilities, student success programs and the student health center.
The increase comes at a time when university leaders statewide say they plan to freeze tuition at the governor's request. There was never any mention of what to do about mandatory fees.
On Jan. 9, Gov. Asa Hutchinson sent a letter to presidents and chancellors of four-year public universities in Arkansas.
He told them that he would request approval from the state Legislature for a $10 million increase in higher education funding to support a new funding method based not just on enrollment but on productivity of students graduating.
Hutchinson said in the letter that four-year universities had increased in-state tuition ranging from a low of 3.03 percent to a high of 6.21 percent. He noted that those percentages represented averages of all four-year campuses.
"To further the higher education goal of student affordability, I am requesting all of our public universities to hold flat their tuition rates for in-state students for the academic year," Hutchinson wrote in his letter. "I challenge our public two-year colleges to keep any tuition increases to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or below.
"Controlling costs for students sends a strong message to students, taxpayers, and legislators that we are serious about making a college education obtainable for everyone and that our institutions of higher education can be trusted with their investment."
UCA President Houston Davis said in January he would comply with the governor's request to freeze in-state tuition in the coming school year.
In documents presented to the UCA board Friday, the Davis administration wrote: "Governor Hutchinson requested all state universities hold general tuition flat for FY19; however, universities may increase fees as needed."
UCA plans to use revenue generated from the fee increase to pump in an additional projected $2.1 million for the university's Educational and General fund, and $100,000 for auxiliary services fund. Additional revenue will go toward technology improvements, facility maintenance and debt, student health center operations and student success programs.
Other university trustees plan to meet this month to set student rates.
Metro on 05/15/2018