LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas State University Planning Committee recommended Wednesday to raise tuition and increase student fees to help offset more than $2.5 million in state revenue cutbacks.
Committee members said a 4 percent tuition increase would raise an estimated $1.3 million for the Jonesboro campus. Increases in athletic fees, capital improvement fees and differential tuition increases for math and science courses would also raise additional revenue, said Ed Kremers, ASU vice chancellor for finance and administration.
The ASU System board of trustees must approve the recommendations. The board will meet May 7 to vote on the ASU budget for fiscal 2010-11.
“We hope this [tuition] won’t impact our enrollment,” said ASU Chancellor Robert Potts. “The additional revenue will help us increase our quality of faculty and curriculum, and make this a more attractive place to come.”
ASU did not raise tuition last year.
ASU and other Arkansas universities lost state revenue when Gov. Mike Beebe announced a $106 million cut in the state’s 2010 generalrevenue budget in January. Universities will receive 2.4 percent less funding for the fiscal year.
Beebe also initiated a previous $100 million general-revenue budget cut in October.
“As long as our revenues hold through this year, we’ll be good heading into next year,” Kremers said.
Trustees are expected to approve the tuition increase, Potts said.
“Dr. [Les] Wyatt supports the increase,” Potts said of the ASU System president. “We believe we have a very good chance of it being approved. If it doesn’t, I’d be surprised and saddened by it.”
In-state undergraduate students at ASU now pay $163 per credit hour. Out-of state students pay $427 per credit hour.
The committee also recommended raising student athletic fees from $12 to $15per credit hour and charging a $3 per credit hour fee for capital improvements.
Tuition for students taking courses in the College of Math and Sciences would also see additional tuition increases under the proposal.
According to the committee’s plans, undergraduate students who enroll in math and science courses would be charged an additional $42 per credit hour. Graduate students would pay an extra $17.50 per credit hour.
Those increases would pay for the recruitment of science teachers, Kremers said.
The business, engineering and health programs already charge higher tuition for classes in those disciplines.
Some committee members balked at the proposal, saying if potential ASU students feel charges are too high, they will attend other universities.
“You’re going to lose a lot of freshmen and sophomore students who have to take those [science and math] core courses,” said Susan Hanrahan, dean of the ASU College of Nursing and Health Professions.
“It will influence all students who take general courses like algebra.”
With Academic Challenge Scholarships provided with money from the new state lottery, students could take their core courses at two-year colleges virtually for free, said Tammy Fowler, ASU director of admissions.
“This will be a very difficult year for recruiting,” Fowler said. “That’s a hard conversation with a parent with all the fees we’re having.
“A two-year ... degree will be much cheaper,” she said.
In other news, Potts said all nonclassified staff and fulltime faculty would receive a 1 percent bonus April 15. The bonus will be no less than $500 and not more than $900 per person, he said.
“It’s not much, but we want to show our hearts are in the right place,” he said.
ASU personnel, other than classified staff members who receive raises through state funding, did not receive raises last year. However, Potts said he expects staff members will receive a 2 percent raise later this year.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/18/2010