Arkansas Tech OKs increase to fees, tuition

Undergraduates to pay $7 more per credit hour starting next year

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark—Arkansas Tech University has voted to increase tuition by over 3 percent at its two campuses in Russellville and Ozark.

The university’s board of trustees made its decision Tuesday and also approved some fee increases that include $2.50 per semester credit hour for athletics, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

The tuition for Russellville undergraduates will hike 3.2 percent from $219 per semester credit hour in 2016-17 to $226 next year. Graduate and doctoral tuition will rise from $274 per credit hour 2016-17 to $284 next year.

Tuition at the university’s Ozark campus, which offers a two-year program, will increase 3.4 percent from $118 per hour in 2016-17 to $122 next year.

Arkansas Tech President Robin Bowen said in a statement that the increases were “carefully and seriously considered as part of the budgeting process and again when they are presented to our Board of Trustees.”

The increases are part of a $161.1 million operating budget authorized by the board for the 2017-18 fiscal year.

“The additional revenue created by the increases approved by the board will be reinvested in our students in a manner consistent with our strategic plan and our focus on student success,” Bowen said.

In Arkansas, higher-education leaders are focusing on a new state funding method for public colleges and universities that is expected to start July 1, 2018. The state’s schools have become more reliant on tuition and fees as state appropriations have dropped.

Last week, University of Arkansas also approved its tuition and fee increases. Those increases range from just over 8 percent to nearly 2.75 percent.