LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville plans to recommend no tuition increase for the coming year, if the Legislature restores $2.3 million UA sought in additional funding last year, Chancellor G. David Gearhart said Thursday.
One of the campus's ongoing studies has allowed it to develop a proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 that recommends keeping tuition flat, Gearhart said.
Earlier this year, the chancellor had predicted UA would seek a tuition increase.
"We are in a little different situation now," Gearhart said.
The university examined its spending, he said, and the worsening economy has further convinced administrators that keeping costs under control is a growing priority.
If the Fayetteville campus is able to pull off its plan, it would be the first time in 24 years it hasn't raised tuition,officials said.
But first, state lawmakers would have to approve Gov. Mike Beebe's recommendation to restore $2.3 million the university sought unsuccessfully for this fiscal year.
Secondly, the tuition recommendation would have to clear the University of Arkansas board of trustees at its April 17 meeting and later be successfully incorporated into the next fiscal year's budget.
Officials with other schools - such as the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Arkansas State University at Jonesboro and the University of Central Arkansas - said Thursday that they have not yet decided whether to request a tuition increase because they do not know how much money the schools will receive from the Legislature.
During a year when the state Legislature meets, most public colleges and universities across the state generally wait for the session to end before deciding whether to propose raising tuition and fees. Those decisions happen at college or university board of trustees meetings in the spring.
Ben Beaumont, a spokesman for the University of Arkansas system, the state's largest, said he does not yet know whether tuition increases will be requested from other UA campuses.
However, he said, "We expect that any requested increase would be modest."
Jack Lassiter, chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Monticello, said budget hearings started on his campus Thursday, and that no decisions had been made.
"It's a little early," Lassiter said. "Obviously, we're in the same position as Fayetteville. Everything is relative. If we could have a restoration of funds, that is going to impact what we feel we have to do with tuition and fees."
At UCA, the state's second largest university, Interim President Tom Courtway said officials are going through the budget process now.
Courtway said that if all or a portion of the $4.5 million in funding that was cut from this fiscal year's funding is restored, that would "go a long way toward minimizing and/or reducing any type of increase in tuition or fees.
"Whether it could be zero, it's hard to say until you know what you're going to get," he said.
Courtway and other university officials said that they expect to present information about the budget at board meetings in May or June. Darrell Morrison, vice president for finance at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, said in an e-mail through a spokesman that officials recommend "increasing tuition and fees" but haven't determined the amounts.
He also cited the missing puzzle piece of legislative appropriations.
"Whatever we increase will be modest and will be just enough to cover increased utility and other mandatory operational costs," Morrison said in the e-mail. "We are also looking for ways to decrease expenses in next year's budget."
UA-Fayetteville uses its publicly funded core budget - known as its educational and general fund - to pay for day-to-day operations. It is financed primarily with student tuition and state appropriations. Officials have long said a drop in revenue from one side must be offset by increasesin the other.
The university is working under a $265.9 million core budget, a 5.6 percent increase over the previous year - made possible in part by a 5 percent tuition increase.
That budget was set up mostly using $118.1 million from students' tuition and mandatory fees and nearly $120 million from state appropriations.
Gearhart, the UA-Fayetteville chancellor, said the tuition plan by his school resulted in part from the work of a panel he established in January. The Commission on Affordability and Cost Containment was charged with reviewing spending practices and eliminating service duplication.
UA-Fayetteville spokesman Tysen Kendig said Thursday that the commission's work continues, but that it has made its first important contribution to university finances.
A few days after he announced the cost commission, Gearhart said he had appointed another panel to study whether the campus's student affairs division is operating at the highest levels of efficiency, student service and cost-effectiveness. However, he said that group's work didn't play into Thursday's tuition announcement.
The UA said in a news release that, in general, the Fayetteville campus will hold the line on mandatory student fees, which also drive up costs for students.
However, a $2 per-credit-hour facilities fee established last year that was intended to increase over time until it reaches $10 per credit hour is among exceptions to that general rule for the coming fiscal year.
The fee will increase to $4 in the coming year, Kendig said.
Officials also are considering adding a processing fee for semester bill payments, but Kendig said he had no specifics on the amount.
The tuition plan is a sign that UA officials can feel people's economic pain.
"We're trying to send a message to our students and parents that we do know that costs have to be kept under control," Gearhart said.
Arkansas, Pages 11, 15 on 03/13/2009