NWACC Board of Trustees approves tuition increase

BENTONVILLE — The Northwest Arkansas Community College Board of Trustees voted March 11 to increase tuition for the 2024-25 school year.

On a 6-1 vote, the board approved raising tuition by $12 per credit hour for in-district students and outof-district state students and $6 per credit hour for out-of-state students and international students.

Board members Ron Branscum, Lori Frank, Amber Latimer, Carolyn Reeves, Todd Schwartz and Jonathan Woods voted for the increase. Joe Spivey voted against it. Board member Rachel Harris was absent.

The increase will start with the fall semester, said Grant Hodges, the college’s executive director of planning and public relations.

It’s the school’s first tuition hike since the 2022-23 school year. Before that, tuition hadn’t been raised in nine years.

Tuition will rise to $91 per credit hour for in-district students, those who live in the Bentonville and Rogers school districts. Out-of-district, in-state tuition will be $157 per credit hour. Out-ofstate students will pay $170 per credit hour, and tuition will be $221 for international students.

Maintaining academic excellence, dealing with rising costs and investing in facilities and infrastructure were listed as reasons for the tuition hike, according to information from the school.

“We’re left with tuition and fees as the only lever that we as a college, we as a board, have to fully fund the needs of the college,” said Woods, chairman of the Finance Committee. “The two biggest needs are compensation for faculty and staff and facilities — maintenance and upkeep of our facilities.”

Spivey said he had “a lot of heartburn and concern” about raising tuition so much.

“This will be a shock to our students,” Spivey said. “This is huge, you all. This is a big, big step we’re taking.”

The cumulative increase is 7% for fiscal year 2025, Hodges said.

“Like the board members said, none of us like tuition increases,” Hodges said. “We try to be mindful of what that means for our students in this environment with inflation, increasing prices and everything. We know it’s tough. We still think NWACC is a very affordable place for our students to go.”