Board OKs tuition increase at Tech

Tuition will increase by about 3% at Arkansas Tech University for the 2021-22 academic year at the Russellville campus, the board of trustees decided Thursday.

Mandatory fees will also go up by about 3% at the university in Russellville. Tuition and mandatory fees at the Ozark campus, which offers associate of applied science degrees and technical certificate programs, will also increase.

Trustees approved the new rates as part of the adoption of a $170.4 million balanced operating budget.

Undergraduate tuition for a resident of Arkansas will increase from $232 per student semester credit hour in 2020-21 to $239 per student semester credit hour in 202122 at the main campus in Russellville. In-state graduate and doctoral-level tuition will increase from $292 per student semester credit hour in 2020-21 to $300.75 per student semester credit hour in 2021-22.

Additionally, undergraduate and graduate mandatory fees at ATU in Russellville will increase from $87.50 per student semester credit hour to $90.15 per per student semester credit hour.

For an undergraduate student who is an Arkansas resident, the average tuition and mandatory fee for someone taking five courses and 15 credits per semester would be $4,937.25.

That amount will differ per student, depending on the number of courses one takes, whether a course requires an extra lab or a particular major that may cost more to complete.

Those rates do not include room, board and other living expenses, or the cost of books and other academic supplies.

But the rates students pay could be lowered by scholarship awards from the institution, the state or private foundations.

At Arkansas Tech’s Ozark campus, in-state tuition will increase 2.3%, from $129 per student semester credit hour in 2020-21 to $132 per student semester credit hour in 202122. Mandatory fees at the Ozark campus will increase from $54 Mandatory fees at ATU-Ozark Campus will increase from $54 per student semester credit hours to $56 per student semester credit hours, a 3.7% increase.