Arkansas State University System trustees unanimously agreed Friday to raise room and board rates at its Jonesboro campus.
Folded into that vote, the trustees also raised board rates for its Beebe campus. The vote came a week after the University of Central Arkansas increased its room and board rates, citing an increase in its food vendor contract and maintenance needs. The University of Arkansas System has not yet set 2015-16 rates for its campuses.
ASU Jonesboro's 4.2 percent increase will help with general maintenance costs at the university's residence halls and with increasing food prices, said Rick Stripling, vice chancellor for student affairs. The rates have increased every year at the Jonesboro campus because the cost of living has increased and items aren't the same price as they were a year ago, he said.
"We start this process in November," Stripling said. "We try to be as conservative as we possibly can in determining this amount. We work with our constituents on campus and with our student government to help them understand why we need this increase."
The new rates -- which vary depending on a student's choices on a number of meals and living situation -- will take effect during the first summer term this year.
The university's Student Government Association supported the measure, association President Logan Mustain said Friday. Mustain said he met with Stripling and Craig Johnson, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, during a 90-minute meeting about the new rates.
"They wanted to remain competitive with other universities and keep our facilities where they wanted it to be," said Mustain, 21, a third-year student from Benton. "We did remain competitive."
The meal plans alone will increase by 5.4 percent, Stripling said, but 1 percent of the meal-plan hike will go toward food costs while the rest will go toward a student's flex plan -- a new addition. The flex plan allows students to spend at other on-campus eateries, such as Godfather Pizza or Chick-fil-A.
Mustain said he liked that students could have more money for their flex plans.
Most students who live on the 13,144-student campus have some form of an unlimited board plan, which allows students to eat cafeteria meals either each day of the week or Monday through Friday. The cheapest seven-day unlimited access plan will go from $1,450 to $1,520 per semester. In that scenario, the student will get $50 more in his flex plan.
Room rates will increase by 4 percent, and that will bring in about $480,000 more annually, Stripling said. The rooms are usually 95 percent full at its 3,200 capacity.
A student will pay $2,140 per semester for a double-occupancy room at Arkansas, Kays and University residence halls, a jump from the $2,040 a student has been paying. Each of those halls are for incoming freshmen, who are required to live on campus during that first year. A student can opt out of that requirement only if living at home.
A four-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at the Red Wolf Den, where upperclassmen usually reside, will cost $2,470 per semester, per student -- a $95 increase.
ASU System President Charles Welch said Friday that scholarship amounts that usually cover housing have increased with the room-rate hikes.
Some of the newer residence halls on campus are nearing 10 years. Others, Stripling said, have been around since the 1960s.
Revenue from the residence halls -- which is usually about $13.7 million annually -- helps pay off bonds, construction costs, and other maintenance and operation costs at the university, Stripling said. He listed a number of items that needed to be replaced, including carpets -- which usually have a shelf life of five to seven years -- and shower pans.
Shower pans are about $2,000 each, and one building may have 189 of them, he said.
"You can see how quickly that money goes," Stripling said. "This increase will allow us to address the maintenance issues. It will not address all the maintenance issues as a total."
At the Beebe campus, students will see a 5 percent increase in meal plans. Those under the 15-meal-per-week plan, which is required for those living in residence halls, will pay $921 per semester starting in fall 2015.
The 4,140-student campus alternates room or board increases each year, said Jeff Hankins, vice president for strategic communications and economic development at the ASU System.
Metro on 02/21/2015