Southern Arkansas University students will pay 3.8 percent more in tuition and fees for the 2016-17 school year, school officials said.
The increase will raise the per-semester cost for the average in-state SAU-Magnolia undergraduate student taking 30 credit hours to approximately $8,181 -- or a $300 increase -- over two semesters, according to figures from the university. Students on the Magnolia campus had been paying about $7,896 in in-state tuition over the 2015-16 school year, the university said.
Trustees approved the rates Thursday during a regularly scheduled board meeting in Camden.
SAU, like other universities in Arkansas, has been raising tuition and fees for several years. Last year, SAU increased tuition by 3.13 percent. Since 2012, the university has raised rates by nearly 10 percent, according to data provided by the university.
The increases are attributed, in part, to stagnant funding from the state while the school increases spending on facility improvements to accommodate a growing number of students. Last year, SAU saw a 16 percent expansion in enrollment of its now 4,100-strong student body -- a pattern that has remained steady over the past three years.
The uptick in tuition has concerned state lawmakers who routinely decide between increasing the amount of money budgeted for higher education or seeing those costs passed to students. And for several years, students have paid the price. State data shows that expenditure on higher education has hovered at about 16 percent of the state's budget for the past decade.
"Anytime there are budget cuts, the first thing to be cut is higher education because we can cut that without any damage to the citizens -- we know [universities] can get their money by raising tuition," said Johnnie Roebuck, a member of the Southern Regional Education Board and former Democratic state representative from Arkadelphia. "I understand that they are in a really hard place, because we do not support higher ed the way we should."
During Roebuck's four-year tenure as co-chairman of the House's higher education committee, she oversaw extensive hearings on college affordability that she said failed to amount to anything significant.
"I'm very disappointed that the tuition keeps going up with no cost containment or accountability," she said.
This summer, SAU will wrap up construction on two $15 million projects -- two new residence halls and the renovation of an old National Guard armory to house the school's engineering program. Improvements to several classrooms and an expansion of the school's cafeteria will be completed during the next school year, but will be financed by donations and private entities, university President Trey Berry said.
"When our students see that they're getting better facilities to live in, better quality food service areas, upgraded academic space, new academic programs -- when they see that, we rarely get much pushback" on the tuition increases, Berry said.
Tuition and fees account for 60 percent of the school's $63 million budget, while state funds contribute approximately $17 million, or 30 percent.
"Revenue we received from the state has basically remained flat for many years. We're fortunate to receive that money from the state, but it is an issue," Berry said.
"There's always talk with the state legislature about trying to increase these funds, but we recognize that everybody else is trying to do the same thing," he added.
But the university is considered the most affordable higher education institution in the state -- and the sixth most affordable in the nation -- by the cost analytic website BestValueSchools.com. The university costs students approximately $4,000 less per year compared with average tuition for Arkansas' higher-education institutions across the state.
Berry said the university is trying to find new sources of financial aid to help offset the price for students. Besides federal Pell grants, an estimated 62 percent of the school's student body receive a scholarship, said Marcela McRae-Brunson, director of financial aid.
In the fall, the school will begin what it has called its largest ever fundraising effort, a five-year campaign that will focus on funding student scholarships.
SAU-Magnolia is the most recent in a series of public universities raising rates this month. Last week, Henderson State University's board of trustees and the Arkansas Tech University board of trustees approved 4 and 7 percent increases respectively.
The University of Central Arkansas in Conway followed suit this week with a 4.24 percent increase. The University of Arkansas System raised tuition and fees for its four-year campuses, including a 3.5 percent increase at Fayetteville, 6 percent increase at Fort Smith, 5.7 percent increase at Little Rock, 11.8 percent increase at Monticello and 6.5 percent increase at Pine Bluff.
Meanwhile, SAU-Tech in Camden has kept tuition and mandatory fees constant for at least the past four years, according to Gaye Manning, SAU-Tech's vice chancellor for finance and administration. An in-state student taking 30-credit hours in a school year pays $3,240 over the school year, while an out-of-state student pays $4,680.
However, the school will add an international application fee for international applicants and will increase fees for some nursing programs.
Metro on 05/28/2016