College adjusts fees, keeps tuition flat

National Park College restructured its student fees, but will maintain the same cost of tuition in the 2017-18 academic year with projections for growth in enrollment and steady revenue.

Changes to the college’s fee structure will make slight adjustments to the total cost of attendance for all students. The current structure assesses fees each term for registration, $50; infrastructure, $50; and security, $25. Separate charges are assessed per credit hour for technology, $8; wellness, $1; and online, $10.

“The cost of attendance will decrease for some students,” Steve Trusty, vice president for finance and administration, said during the college’s regular monthly meeting Wednesday. “Other students will pay slightly more, but we will still remain less than half of the cost of the average four-year university in Arkansas.”

The revised model for the

2017-18 academic year will implement a single per-credit-hour fee of $27 per credit hour for in-district students from Garland County, $28 per credit hour for in-state out-of-district students from outside of Garland County and $31 per credit hour for out-of-state. The tuition cap will decrease from 18 credit hours to 15 to incentivize students to complete more hours per semester and graduate on or ahead of schedule.

“They will pay less if they are a part-time student or if they are taking more than 15 hours,” Trusty said.

In-district students make up

81.5 percent of the college’s current enrollment. Annual cost of attendance for in-district students taking 15 credit hours in the fall and spring semesters will increase by 8.4 percent from $3,160 to $3,450.

In-state out-of-district students account for 16.75 percent of the college’s enrollment this year. Annual cost of attendance for out-of-district students taking

15 credit hours both semesters will increase by 9.2 percent from

$3,460 to $3,780.

The cost of attendance for out-of-state students each year for 15 credit hours in both semesters will increase from $4,540 to

$4,745.

Tuition will remain unchanged for the second consecutive year after the college decreased the cost by $1 per credit hour with its rebrand campaign in 2015. The cost of tuition will remain $88 per credit hour for in-district students, $98 per credit hour for out-of-district students, $134 per credit hour for out-of-state residents and $198 per credit hour for international students.

“Students and prospective students consistently talk about the affordability of NPC being one of the top reasons they come to college here,” Trusty said. “We wanted to keep tuition flat for the coming academic year. We want to restructure our student fees to more accurately reflect costs, be somewhat fairer to students and be simpler for students to understand.”

Trusty presented the full financial report and the budget for the 2018 fiscal year to the board of trustees Wednesday in the Gerald Fisher Campus Center. The budget projects enrollment to increase by 3 percent with a total budget of $17,903,536, a decrease of only $4,163 from the current fiscal year.

The budget included funding for new full-time faculty positions, a new honors program, the National Park Promise scholarship for completers from the National Park Technology Center high school programs, increased transfer initiatives and new club sports teams. President John Hogan said all of the employee elements of the budget provide new faculty positions or student service personnel who will directly interact with students.

“This budget is really our strategic plan and the set of initiatives in which we are investing as a college,” Hogan said. “Those investments, by and large, are into students and student success. It is a very aggressive budget in that sense and I’m very proud of that.”

Hogan said the budget plans for the college include additional opportunities with additions such as the honors program and club sports. He said most colleges are not in a position like NPC to add instructors in subjects such as math and English.

“If we can make an investment in student success and we could only make one investment, that is probably what we should invest in,” Hogan said. “Those are in key academic areas where all of our students are going to be coming through.”

The budget also includes changes to the method of accounting for concurrent enrollment courses in area high schools to align with Act 1118 of 2017, which states the reduction in tuition by the institution of higher education shall not be considered an institutional scholarship. The college currently charges tuition and fees to student accounts, but applies institutional scholarships for all charges save for a $50 registration fee.

The college will now charge

$12 per credit hour for in-district students and $16 per credit hour for out-of-district.

Trustees approved Lewis Architects Engineers as architect for the college’s official campus master plan and a possible learning commons capital project that could break ground this fall. Jim Hale, chairman of the building and campus development committee, previously said the college received 10 bids in its request for qualifications for an architect.

Three finalists were interviewed by an ad hoc committee consisting of Hale, Hogan, Trusty and Brad Hopper, director of physical plant. The college submitted its recommendation for approval to the Arkansas Legislative Council, which will review the request in June.

The college’s architect will compose, solicit and complete an RFG for a qualified construction team to complete the master plan. Lewis architect John McMorran presented a campus master plan draft to the board in December 2015.

No costs are incurred for the RFQs and the college will not be responsible for any expenses until the project receives final approval. Any refinancing of bonds for the estimated $12 million to

$14 million project must be approved by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration’s Office of State Procurement and Legislative Council.

The board next regular meeting is scheduled for June 28 and no meeting is currently scheduled for July. The college will likely call a special meeting during the summer if the decision is made to pursue the building project.

Mike Preston, director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, attended the meeting as a special guest. He was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in 2015 and is responsible for the state’s business recruitment efforts. Preston discussed the role of higher education in recruiting business and industry to Arkansas.

Sara Brown, director of development, reported the NPC Foundation Board of Governors approved a contract with Convergent Non-Profit Solutions to begin work on a feasibility study, which will begin in June and take approximately 10 weeks to complete. The primary purpose of the study is to cultivate potential investors and gauge their perception of the need for a capital campaign and other initiatives to benefit the area. The report will also provide an analysis of the college’s local economic impact.