UA relaxes academic standards for out-of-staters to get tuition-gap aid

FAYETTEVILLE — A decision to loosen University of Arkansas, Fayetteville academic requirements for awards that reduce outof-state tuition comes at a time of “intense” competition among colleges to enroll students from Texas, said Suzanne McCray, the university’s top admissions official.

The university for years has relied on out-of-state students to boost enrollment and tuition revenue in an era of mostly flat state appropriation dollars.

At UA, “Texas numbers have been increasing, but they will decrease slightly this year,” McCray said in an email.

The freshman class arriving later this month likely will have 30 to 50 fewer Texans, McCray said. Last month, she said the total incoming freshman class will be similar in size to last year’s group.

Texans accounted for 1 in 4 of the 23,386 undergraduates attending UA last fall, according to enrollment data published online by the university.

The university recruits out-of-state students in part by offering its New Arkansan Non-Resident Tuition Awards, or NRTA.

For residents of eight nearby states, the awards cover up to 90% of the difference

between in-state and outof-state tuition.

“The NRTA changes were made to maintain the numbers [of Texas students], not to increase them. The competition in Texas is intense,” McCray said. The university employs two recruiters who live in the Dallas area, she said.

Entering freshmen from Texas and the seven other eligible states — Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee — need a 28 on the ACT college entrance exam, rather than the previous requirement of a 30 ACT score, to qualify for the 90% nonresident award. They also need a minimum 3.6 grade-point average, down from a previous requirement of 3.7 GPA.

A composite score of 30 on the ACT corresponds to a 93rd percentile ranking, meaning that 93% of test-takers scored at or below 30, based on data for 2018 high school graduates published on the ACT website. A score of 28 corresponds to an 88th percentile ranking,

Academic requirements also have been stepped down for smaller awards that cut the tuition gap by 80% or 70%. The 80% award now requires a 3.4 grade-point average and a 26 ACT, compared with the previous minimums of a 3.5 grade-point average and 28 ACT.

The 70% award requires a 3.2 grade-point average, down from 3.3. The minimum 24 ACT score for the award has not changed.

For the 2019-20 academic year, UA’s in-state tuition rate is $7,568 for 30 semester hours; the nonresident rate is $24,056.

McCray described the changes as rolling back requirements to where they were for freshmen who arrived in fall 2016.

She said the university has “been moving the bulk of our scholarship dollars to in-state students.” The outof-state award requirements have changed “in order to be competitive with our peer institutions,” McCray said.

Many out-of-state students qualify for the award, according to McCray. It does not require a separate application.

“Approximately 78% of the [out-of-state] students who enroll are eligible for the NRTA,” McCray said.

By one measure — Pell grants — out-of-state students attending UA are generally wealthier than Arkansas peers.

Data provided by McCray show that out of 5,005 degree-seeking new freshmen last fall, about half were from Arkansas. Out of the 2,493 Arkansas students, 697, or 28%, received Pell grants, federal aid that goes to students with exceptional financial need.

In contrast, for the 2,512 nonresident students, 258, or about 10%, received Pell grants, although McCray cautioned that the nonresident group includes some international students, who are not eligible for Pell grants.

UA introduced an “Extended States” award in time for fall 2017 that offers aid to incoming students from the rest of the country. The current maximum award under the “Extended States” program is 80% of the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition, and incoming freshmen need a 3.6 grade-point average and a minimum ACT score of 26.

The university experienced an enrollment boom from 2005 to 2012 in which the number of undergraduates increased by about 50%, mostly because of growth in students from outside Arkansas.

Enrollment growth at UA has since slowed. Last fall, overall undergraduate enrollment increased but the university reported a dip in the size of its incoming freshman class for the first time since 2013.

The university enrolled 5,932 undergraduates from Texas last fall, according to UA data. Five years earlier, in fall 2013, the university enrolled 3,947 Texas undergraduates.

The university’s budget now relies more heavily on tuition revenue.

The university’s most recent financial report, for 2017-18, shows $240.5 million in revenue from tuition and fees, about 25% of all revenue for the year. State appropriations made up about $207.2 million, or 22% of revenue.

In 2007-08, UA reported $86.7 million in revenue from tuition and fees and $199.6 million in state appropriations.

The financial reports cover the UA campus units but also related entities, including the Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service.

Researchers said similar universities in other states also have sought to boost out-of-state enrollments.

“My sense is it’s pretty darn competitive,” said Ozan Jaquette, assistant professor of higher education and organizational change at the University of California at Los Angeles.

He said many public research universities similar to UA “are primarily looking for tuition revenue from these out-of-state students.”

Schools also can be motivated to recruit outside state borders to find high-achieving students or perhaps supplement a declining in-state population, Jaquette said.

But “15 years ago, there weren’t that many public universities trying to get large numbers of out-of-state students,” Jaquette said. He said a key turning point arrived after the most recent economic recession, when schools realized that state appropriations would largely not be returning to previous levels.

“As more universities are going after these nonresident students, my sense is that it gets more difficult to attract them,” Jaquette said.

Michael Harris, an associate professor of higher education at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said “Texas has got far more students than can be accommodated” at large in-state research universities like the University of Texas at Austin or Texas A&M University.

Harris said large research universities seeking to attract out-of-state students often sell the student experience, including fraternity and sorority life as well as dorm amenities.