UA System's students pay more this fall

Tuitions rise as trustees OK costs, some up by 6%

HOPE -- Costs for attending University of Arkansas campuses will go up for undergraduate students across the state, for some by as much as 6 percent.

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New UA tuition rates

The UA board of trustees unanimously set tuition and mandatory-fee rates Wednesday for the 2014-15 academic year, as well as new budgets that will make room for 2 percent merit raises for faculty members.

Unlike last year's decision to raise student costs -- which prompted debate among trustees -- Wednesday's vote was made with very little discussion.

Board Chairman Jim von Gremp of Rogers credited UA System President Donald Bobbitt and the university chancellors for working together throughout the year to analyze budgets and to come to a strong agreement before taking it before the board.

"Last year we were still here at 8 p.m.," said von Gremp during a regular board meeting held Wednesday at the University of Arkansas Community College of Hope.

Bobbitt commended the chancellors and their staffs for making "difficult but necessary" choices in the budgeting process.

Tuition counts for 50 percent of the system's budget, Bobbitt said, a budget that was hit hard by reductions in state funding and rising utility costs. Most four-year UA institutions will receive increases of less than 1 percent in state funding, with two-year colleges to remain stagnant.

The revenue increase from tuition would partially go toward raising faculty members' salaries and for efforts to improve retention and graduation rates.

Von Gremp said it was his personal goal to take salaries "not close to average, but above average" in the nation.

The board will work diligently over the next year, von Gremp vowed, to reduce and control nonessential expenses in order to control tuition costs and increase salaries. He cited a University of Tennessee official who said the budget-cutting process was initially difficult for that institution, which also took a hit from lower state funding, but produced a much stronger system at the end.

Board Member John Goodson of Texarkana asked if that university had established committees that included trustees, and von Gremp replied in the affirmative. Goodson then suggested that a similar mechanism be established by the UA System.

For the tuition and mandatory-fee total, the 25,341-student Fayetteville campus will see a 5 percent increase, from $7,818 to $8,209, for a student taking 30 credit hours over two semesters in the 2014-2015 academic year.

The biggest jump in student costs will be at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, which will see a 6 percent increase, rising from $5,624 to $5,962. Part of that rise in costs comes from a student-imposed fee of $5 per credit hour that will fund the building of a new wellness and recreation center.

The tuition and mandatory-fee total at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will rise 4.7 percent from $7,601 to $7,959.

UA-Monticello students would pay 5 percent more, going from $5,793 to $6,082.

The tuition and mandatory-fee total at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will increase 3.5 percent from $5,753 to $5,956.

Tuition and mandatory-fee rates for UA community colleges will be:

• 5.4 percent, from $2,212 to $2,332, for Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas.

• 3.9 percent, from $2,495 to $2,593 for Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas.

• 4.4 percent, from $2,700 to $2,820, for the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville.

• 4.7 percent, from $2,271 to $2,378, for the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.

• 4.1 percent, from $3,290 to $3,425, for the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton.

Nationally, tuition and fees at public four-year institutions have risen from 2003-04 to 2013-14 by 4.2 percent per year after adjusting for inflation, according to the College Board.

Last week, the Arkansas State University System and Arkansas Tech University raised rates for the coming school year. ASU-Jonesboro, the state's second-largest four-year university with 13,552 students, will raise its tuition and mandatory fees by 2.8 percent for in-state students taking 30 credit hours, from $7,510 to $7,720, in the coming school year. At Arkansas Tech, tuition and fees for an undergraduate student enrolled in 30 credit hours during the 2014-15 academic year will be $7,248, which is a 4.77 percent increase.

A Section on 05/22/2014

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