FAYETTEVILLE -- Students at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville would pay more in facilities fees each of the next five years for campus construction and maintenance under a proposal to be presented to trustees today.
The amount of the proposed yearly fee increases would be based on 1 percent of per credit hour tuition and student fees, increasing the facilities fee to $12.74 per credit hour for the 2015-16 academic year from the current $10 per credit hour fee.
Assuming yearly increases of about 3 percent to 5 percent in overall tuition and fee rates set by the UA System board of trustees, the facilities fee would grow to about $24.62 per credit hour by fiscal 2020, according to estimates provided by Mike Johnson, UA's associate vice chancellor for facilities.
"Such a fee will enable us to pursue our campus facilities and stewardship goals, meet the classroom and laboratory needs of our burgeoning student body, and help to ensure our national/international reputation as a very high research designated institution," according to UA's proposal.
No vote on the fee is expected at the University of Arkansas System board of trustees meeting, which will be held at the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences campus in Little Rock, today and Thursday. A discussion is on the agenda for the board's Building and Grounds Committee, which meets today. The plan would be considered for a vote by trustees at a later meeting, UA System President Donald Bobbitt stated in a board document.
The board would not approve five years of increases with a single vote. Rather, UA would be required to make a request annually to continue with any plan for future increases, said Nate Hinkel, interim director of communications for the UA System.
UA's undergraduate tuition rate for Arkansas residents is $3,411.60 per semester for a student taking 15 credit hours, and each student carrying the same load of courses pays $512.55 in fees.
Students enrolled in colleges within UA also pay additional fees that average $180 for a 15-credit-hour course load, according to the university.
These rates reflect a 5 percent increase approved by the UA board in May. If the facilities fee is increased for the upcoming academic year, students taking a 15-hour course load would pay $191.10 in facilities fees compared with the $150 they are paying this academic year.
Chancellor G. David Gearhart told faculty in November that he would seek an increase in the facilities fee paid by students.
He also met near the end of the fall semester with leaders in UA's Associated Student Government to discuss the proposed facilities fee increase, according to Ray Todd, the organization's Senate chairman.
"I can't accurately describe the reaction of all the students to the issue, but I will say students were very interested in each of the projects and facilities that could potentially get revamped or built. There were certain facilities (intramural fields, library, etc) that students knew needed updating and were mentioned by Chancellor Gearhart in the presentation, so, students were pleased with this," Todd wrote in an email.
UA's current facility fee is among the most costly among large Arkansas schools. But many have increased those fees in recent years.
The University of Central Arkansas at Conway charges students a $12.50 per credit hour facilities fee after increasing the fee from $9 per hour beginning with the current fiscal year. Arkansas Tech University at Russellville charges $10 per credit hour, up from a $4 per credit hour charge when the fee was introduced in the 2008-2009 school year.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock charges $8 per credit hour, while the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith charges $3 per credit hour.
UA System trustees in 2008 voted to establish a UA-Fayetteville facilities fee of $2 per credit hour, which also increased based on 1 percent increments until the fee reached $10 per credit hour, which is what students have paid since fiscal year 2013.
Johnson said the facilities fee was vital to a 15-year facilities plan, an effort known as UA's Facility Renewal and Stewardship Plan.
Funds from various sources allowed the university to commit $251 million from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2013 as part of the stewardship plan, according to agenda documents and Johnson. The plan is separate from efforts relating to athletics department projects or student housing, but the money has helped pay for projects such as the renovation and addition to UA's Vol Walker Hall, home to the university's architecture department.
The agenda documents refer to a second phase for the plan, noting that state funding does not designate funds for such capital projects.
Johnson said the second phase of the plan, if enacted, would likely result in an estimated $140 million of facilities fee funding for bonds to pay for projects, with an expected additional $60 million to be raised from private gifts during the same time period, Johnson said.
Money from the fee would help pay for renovations to UA's David W. Mullins Library and continuing renovations to John A. White Jr. Engineering Hall, among 14 projects costing an estimated total of $206 million listed in agenda documents. Johnson described several projects as having had some renovation work done but needing funds for completion.
He said UA began the plan with about $245 million in deferred maintenance expenses to campus facilities, excluding housing and athletics buildings.
If adopted, the plan by its end would likely reduce that number to the $70 to $85 million range, an amount that would be "much more manageable," he said.
"It is an opportunity to finish a process that will be truly unique across the country. I know of very few if any universities of any size that have been able to do something like this over the last six or the next nine years," Johnson said.
A Section on 01/21/2015