Cost increases asked for all in UA System

The University of Arkansas System will ask its trustees to increase both tuition and fees at all of its four-year universities except for two — Little Rock and Monticello.

Only three of its seven community colleges are asking for tuition and fee increases, while the rest are asking for one or the other.

Of all the schools, the four-year institution wanting the steepest increase is the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, at 8.02 percent. Among the two-year college it is Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas, at 6.47 percent for in-district students and 5.73 percent for out-of-district, in-state students, according to University of Arkansas board of trustees documents.

Otherwise, the increases for tuition and mandatory fees are between 2 percent and 5 percent, the range in which colleges and universities typically try to stay when con-

sidering rate raises.

The requests come as higher-education leaders across the nation are focusing on access, success and affordability for their students. In Arkansas, the three areas are the focus of a new state funding method for public colleges and universities that is set to start July 1, 2018. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has pledged to submit a budget with $10 million in new state money — a first for higher education in the state for nearly two decades — to help start the new funding method.

Nationwide — and in Arkansas — colleges and universities have become more dependent on tuition and fee revenue as state appropriations have dropped or stagnated through the years. Higher-education institutions also get income from private donations.

Operating costs for colleges and universities have ballooned by 16.8 percent since 2008, largely outpacing state funding, which has gone up 4.2 percent during that same period, said Nate Hinkel, director of communications for the UA System. Much like last year, most of the money raised from increased rates at the UA System schools will go to student success initiatives, deferred maintenance which exceeds $1 billion across the system and faculty and staff raises, he said.

All schools this year are pitching in 0.5 percent of their tuition and fee increases for a systemwide software project, though some schools are using other funds to pay for that cost. The project aims to get all 13 schools on board to handle student services information, financial data and human-resource matters on the same software.

The system also faces an increase in health-insurance premiums by 2 percent come July. Some schools are passing that along to their employees while others are absorbing some of the cost, board documents show.

The University of Arkansas board of trustees will meet today and Thursday at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to take up tuition and fee proposals, among other items.

At the Fayetteville campus, officials will request a 2.74 percent tuition and mandatory fee increase for in-state undergraduate students. If approved, the tuition and fee total at the 27,194-student campus will go from $4,409.84 to $4,530.68 per semester for a student taking 15 credit hours.

The flagship campus is aiming for a 3 percent salary increase for all of its employees, according to board documents. Increases related to growth include $8 million in those compensation increases, $2.6 million for academics and $780,000 for facilities management. The campus is also raising its facilities fee by $1.60 to $15.60 per credit hour, which the university said would generate about $1 million for campus buildings.

Among the system’s fouryear universities, UAPB will ask for the highest increase.

With an increase, UAPB in-state students who take 15 credit hours a semester will pay $3,605.75 per semester, up from $3,338 in tuition and mandatory fees. The university’s rate would be the second-lowest rate within the system’s four-year schools, behind the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. UAFS’ new rate — if approved — will be $3,467.50 for in-state undergraduate students taking 15 hours, compared with its current $3,350.50 rate.

The systemwide software prompted UAPB to add a new enterprise resource planning fee for $1.25 per credit hour, according to board documents. On top of that, the university wants to raise its facility use fee by $10 to $32 per credit hour.

UAPB’s budget documents said it will try to take care of “much needed” deferred maintenance, dorm renovations and a student union this forthcoming school year.

Little Rock and Monticello campus administrators are asking for only fee increases.

Among the system’s twoyear institutions, Cossatot’s increase is highest for both in-district — those in Sevier, Howard and Little River counties — and in-state, outof-district students. In-district students taking 15 hours could pay $1,605 a semester, compared with the current $1,507.50. In-state, out-ofdistrict students taking that same course load could pay $1,800 a semester, up from the $1,702.50.

“A small college like us, we’re dealing with 1,500 students, 135 full-time employees,” Cossatot Chancellor Steve Cole said. “Just to show you how the numbers generate for us: If I want to give my full-time personnel a 2 percent cost-of-living increase, which I think is fair, to recruit and retain good people in my college … it actually costs over $140,000 just to do it.”

The college’s entire budget is $10 million, and all of its students take about 25,000 credit hours a year, he said.

“If we consider that all students pay us on time — which they don’t — let’s say I raise tuition by $1 per credit hour, that gives the college an additional $25,000,” he said. “To do that and still take care of our people, it takes a lot more cost cutting than it does raising tuition.”

Two other Arkansas public universities kept rate increases below 3 percent: Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.

In-state undergraduate students taking 15 hours at SAU will pay 1.83 percent more at $4,173 a semester in tuition and mandatory fees in the 2017-18 school year. SAU has 4,771 students. An in-state undergraduate student taking 15 credit hours at Henderson will pay 2.4 percent more at $4,155.50 a semester in tuition and mandatory fees starting this fall. Henderson has 3,565 students.

In Georgia, the board of regents increased tuition by 2 percent across its public higher-education institutions, including the flagship, the University of Georgia, according to media reports. Mississippi’s flagship had a 7.04 percent increase for the 2017-18 school year, and students will pay $4,150 a semester for a full-time load.

All schools this year are pitching in 0.5 percent of their tuition and fee increases for a systemwide software project, though some schools are using other funds to pay for that cost.