UA studies facility fees bump

Chancellor says building projects in need of funding

University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Chancellor G. David Gearhart told faculty Wednesday that the university will likely seek an increase in facility fees paid by students to help fund renovation and construction projects on campus.

“We probably will go to the board at some point over the next six months or so,” Gearhart said at a meeting of UA’s campus faculty. Approval must come from the UA System board of trustees.

UA-Fayetteville students now pay a facilities fee of $10 per credit hour. UA System trustees in March 2008 approved a $2 per hour fee that applied to system campuses statewide. UA officials followed through on a plan to increase the fee by $2 yearly until it reached $10 per credit hour.

Gearhart noted that the state does not provide yearly funding for capital projects, listing a series of mostly renovation projects he said are under consideration. A “complete renovation” to UA’s John A. White Jr. Engineering Hall and interior renovation work to Memorial Hall were among about a dozen projects mentioned by Gearhart.

“Those are just a few of the things we’re looking at if we can get another facility fee,” Gearhart said.

He did not detail the amount of money the university would seek to raise with the fee, stating only that the university might “ask for another 1 percent.”

“That will enable us, if we add to that private money, to tackle a number of these projects,” Gearhart said.

Gearhart and Provost Sharon Gaber’s presentation began with discussion about eVersity, the UA System’s new online-only university set to receive a $5 million startup loan pulled from reserve accounts at UA System entities. The eVersity is expected to begin offering classes next fall.

Of the total loan, approximately $1.5 million will be pulled from UA-Fayetteville accounts, Gearhart told faculty — with reserves associated with various parts of the university likely to be affected.

UA has about $140 million in such reserves along with an additional $14 million in what Gearhart described as “totally unrestricted” reserve funds, but Gaber said the $14 million is necessary for catastrophic, unplanned events.

Gearhart showed faculty a chart that listed UA’s facilities management contributing $158,000 and the university’s athletic department contributing $120,000 to the loan, with contributions from other units also listed. He emphasized uncertainty about future university finances — including a possible rise in health care costs for employees — though he said UA overall is in “the best financial shape we’ve been in for some time.”

UA’s Faculty Senate last week passed a resolution listing concerns about eVersity and calling for a delay in its implementation.

Gearhart appeared before the UA System trustees in October to argue against the $5 million interinstitutional loan that the board eventually approved.

However, while “we argued against it,” Gearhart said, “the board has spoken.”

About the resolution, he said, “I think the Faculty Senate debated it and are certainly within their right to do that.”

At the presentation, Gaber said faculty interested in teaching for eVersity would need to follow procedures in place for UA faculty teaching elsewhere.

“There may be faculty that want to participate in eVersity, and we have not said that you cannot participate,” Gearhart said.