Southern Arkansas University will increase tuition but keep mandatory fees flat.
At SAU-Magnolia, an undergraduate in-state resident taking 15 credit hours per semester will pay $4,655 in tuition and mandatory fees for the fall semester, or a total of $9,310 for 30 hours for two semesters -- fall and spring -- in tuition and mandatory fees, according to Donna Allen, vice president for student affairs at the university.
Tuition for an undergraduate student will be $225 per student semester credit hour, an increase of 3.67%, according to SAU officials.
SAUTech, its two-year community college in Camden, will keep tuition the same next fall as it had in fall 2020. A technology fee will increase $5 per student semester credit hour, SAU officials said.
The total amount at the two campuses will differ per student, depending on the number of courses one takes and whether a course requires a lab or some other additional expense.
Tuition and mandatory fees do not include room, board and other living expenses, or the cost of books and other academic supplies.
But the rates that students pay could be lowered by scholarship awards from the institution, the state or private foundations.
The SAU board of trustees met Wednesday, approving budgets for SAU in Magnolia and SAU Tech in Camden and setting rates. SAU Tech's budget includes funding for the Arkansas Fire Training Academy and the Arkansas Environmental Training Academy, which it operates.
Shawana Reed, SAU's vice president for finance, told trustees that the figures in the Magnolia campus' budget are based on a projected decrease in enrollment to 94% of last year's student population due to the pandemic.
SAU had 4,432 students last fall, according to an enrollment report from the state Division of Higher Education.
Eight of 11 public universities in Arkansas, including SAU, experienced a decline in enrollment from fall 2019 to fall 2020, according to the state's Higher Education division. SAU's one-year decline of 1% was the lowest percent of the eight schools, according to the division's report, which was released in January.
SAU Tech Vice Chancellor Gaye Manning told trustees in her budget presentation that revenue for SAU Tech was based on a 3% reduction in enrollment and the increase in the technology fee. Housing revenue is based on 90% occupancy rates.
Tuition rates will remain $108 per hour for in-state students. SAU Tech had 769 students in fall 2020, according to the state report.