BENTONVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas Community College officials are considering raising tuition at the college for the first time in seven years.
The increase would help pay for $1.6 million of pending budget requests, the college's administration and board of trustees discussed at a work session Tuesday.
The college's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. Last year's budget was $42.2 million.
The 2020 budget will be established based on tuition rates once they're finalized, said Gulizar Baggson, associate vice president of finance for the college. That could be as early as today.
The $1.6 million in requests include everything from proposed positions to utilities and janitorial services over six different divisions.
Projected increases in property tax revenue and state funding will cover $555,288 of those requests, Baggson said. That leaves just more than $1 million to find.
Baggson suggested raising tuition rates 5.7 percent for in-district students, 7.6 percent for out-of-district students, those in contiguous counties and international students and 16 percent for out-of-state residents.
In-district tuition rates would increase from $75 per credit hour to $79 per credit hour. In-district students are those who live in the Bentonville and Rogers school districts. Patrons in those districts pay property taxes supporting the college.
Students who live outside the district in Northwest Arkansas and in the contiguous counties in adjoining states -- Delaware and Adair in Oklahoma and McDonald and Barry in Missouri -- would see their $122.50 per credit hour fee increase to $132.
Tuition for international students would increase from $175 to $188 and out-of-state students would increase from $125 to $145 per credit hour.
Joe Spivey, board chairman, said he didn't believe it was the right time to raise tuition for in-district students. He asked Baggson to look at other calculations where those rates remained flat.
"It's important that we be fair to our millage payers in the Rogers and Bentonville school districts," he said. "We need to keep our stakeholders in mind when we're considering any kind of tuition increase."
Evelyn Jorgenson, college president, said the millage revenue has increased as property values have gone up, but that increase is still less than the 8 percent cumulative rate of inflation since 2013. Another option would be to reduce the tuition increase for in-district students, raising the cost by $2 or $3 instead of $4 per credit hour.
Jorgenson asked what impact the out-of district increase would have on the students who attend the Washington County Center. The center is under construction in Springdale near Arvest Ballpark and is scheduled to open spring semester 2020.
"You're saving on gas," said Todd Swartz, trustee, alluding to students who may live closer to the Springdale location.
Swartz said rates should be locked in for two or three years if they are increased so students know how much it will be for them to obtain their associate's degrees.
He also suggested college officials consider charging students for no more than 15 credit hours even if they are taking more.
Swartz and Ron Branscum, trustee, mentioned looking at increasing the fees for high-cost programs so expenses could remain lower for the general student body.
The $519,664 funding request from the college's career and workforce department, which includes health professions and Brightwater culinary school, accounts for more than 30 percent of requests still to be funded, Branscum said.
Tim Cornelius, vice president of career and workforce education, said the college does have differential tuition for three programs -- nursing, physical therapist assistant and respiratory therapy. The accredited program can only accept 40 nursing students each year, but the college receives more than 200 applications.
Enrollment for the fall semester begins in April. Students need to know what it's going to cost them to study at the college, Jorgenson said. A final proposal for tuition and fees should be ready to discuss at the board's regular monthly meeting today, she said.
The 2020 budget is scheduled to go to the board for approval in May.
Metro on 03/11/2019