John Brown University offers summer tuition discount

FAYETTEVILLE — John Brown University, the state’s second-largest private university, will lower summer tuition by more than 40% and cover costs with help from faculty agreeing to teach the online-only courses at a reduced pay rate, a spokeswoman said.

At least one public university in the state, the University of Central Arkansas, also is considering summer tuition-and-fee adjustments.

The decisions come as colleges weigh the financial effects of the coronavirus and uncertain enrollment given the economic disruption caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

Several colleges in Arkansas — including John Brown, UCA, Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas System — have said they will continue into the summer a suspension of in-person classes that began this spring to stop the spread of the illness.

The discounted summer tuition at John Brown is possible “because the JBU faculty teaching the courses have graciously agreed to teach at half of the normal rate they receive for teaching in the summer,” university spokeswoman Julie Gumm said in an email.

Along with offering a discount, the private Christian university in Siloam Springs aims to grow summer enrollment by offering many more courses of interest to undergraduate students, Gumm said.

John Brown’s summer courses, which begin May 11, will be asynchronous, meaning lectures will be recorded “but the faculty will have office hours during which students can talk with them via Zoom or other means and they may choose to offer live study sessions,” Gumm said, referring to the popular videoconferencing application.

In March, before the first coronavirus case in Arkansas, John Brown officials said 12 faculty and staff were losing their jobs after an enrollment decline. The campus enrolled 1,460 undergraduate students in fall 2019, according to state data, a dip of about 6.3% compared with 2018.

John Brown announced Monday more than 60 courses will be available at $249 per credit hour. The rate is a 44% markdown from the $441 summer tuition rate listed in the university’s 2019-20 online catalog. Gumm said the discount could be considered 70% compared to “regular” costs.

In addition to academic “core” classes, “there are major specific classes for a lot of the different programs,” Gumm said.

Last summer the university had “very limited” course offerings for typical undergraduates outside of online courses, a total of three classes enrolling 38 such students, Gumm said.

“But due to the circumstances we saw this as [a] great way for our students to stay connected to their faculty and friends during this time of isolation as well as making significant academic progress toward their degree,” Gumm said.

Amanda Hoelzeman, a spokeswoman for the University of Central Arkansas, said the university regularly offers many of its summer courses online.

“We are still working on the details of the tuition and fee structure for summer classes,” Hoelzeman said.

UCA had 4,302 students take courses last summer, Hoelzeman said, describing summer courses as a “popular option” for students.

“However, we know this year is unlike any other, so we are monitoring registrations on a daily basis. We are using student and programmatic need, as we have in the past, to determine the courses we offer,” Hoelzeman said.

The John Brown summer courses have some appeal for Bella Bennett, a sophomore from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., studying political science.

“I was previously planning on taking the courses that I’m considering during regular, on-campus semesters,” Bennett said. But “taking these classes at an extremely reduced rate with the possibility for financial assistance is causing me to more seriously consider this possibility” of a summer courseload, she said.

John Brown provided reimbursement credit to students affected by housing closures because of covid-19, and the credits may be applied to summer tuition, Gumm said.

Gumm said summer courses “will be developed to the same guidelines and quality standards as true online classes, versus the remote learning we had to pivot to in March,” with the university’s “traditional” letter grade policy.

Bennett said the summer classes, while not live, will still be “taught and administered by professors that I trust to make my class time worthwhile.”