Arkansas Tech University will freeze tuition for the 2018-2019 academic year at its four-year campus in Russellville but will raise some fees.
Trustees met Thursday at the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center on the Arkansas Tech campus, where they approved a $168 million operating budget that includes a 2 percent pay increase across the board for faculty members, nonclassified staff and classified staff members.
So far, at least two other universities -- the University of Central Arkansas in Conway on May 11 and Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia on Thursday -- have held tuition at 2017-2018 levels, abiding by a request from Gov. Asa Hutchinson. In January, the governor had asked universities to freeze tuition. No one mentioned fees.
Henderson State University trustees meet today in Arkadelphia.
University of Arkansas board of trustees members meet Wednesday and Thursday at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus.
Arkansas State University trustees meet May 31 at the Arkansas State University Mid-South community college campus in West Memphis.
Arkansas Tech -- with 11,830 students enrolled during the fall 2017 semester -- is among the three largest universities in the state.
An Arkansas resident who takes 15 credit hours per semester at Arkansas Tech will pay $9,068 in tuition and mandatory fees for the 2018-19 academic year.
The Arkansas Tech budget approved by trustees Thursday includes the following fee changes on the Russellville campus for 2018-2019:
• Instructional support fee, from $10 per student semester credit hour to $11 .
• Public-safety fee, from $2 per student semester credit hour to $2.25.
• Student activity fee, from $2 per student semester credit hour to $2.50.
• Technology operations fee from $15 per student semester credit hour to $16.50.
• Athletics fee, from $18 per student semester credit hour to $19.25.
• Health and wellness fee, from $6 per student semester credit hour to $7.75.
Arkansas Tech students who live in residence halls and sign up for campus meal programs will pay about 3 percent more during the 2018-2019 academic year than in 2017-2018.
As for tuition, undergraduate tuition will remain at $226 per student semester credit hour for the second-consecutive year. The graduate and doctoral programs will keep tuition at $284 per student semester credit hour.
At Arkansas Tech's Ozark campus, approved fee changes include:
• $1 per student semester credit hour increases for the technology fee and the student support fee.
• Implementation of a library fee of $1 per student semester credit hour and a public safety fee of $2 per student semester credit hour.
Arkansas Tech is reorganizing its online fee structure, waiving the public safety fee of $2.25 per student semester credit hour and the student activity fee of $2.50 per student semester credit hour during the 2018-19 academic year.
The waiver applies to online-only students. The university defines those students as ones enrolled in a program that can be completed entirely online, enrolled in a semester in entirely online course work and have no physical presence on campus.
In other business, trustees approved:
• A refund policy revision. Students can get a 100 percent refund of tuition and fees if they withdraw or drop courses within the first five class days of a semester. Students who withdraw or drop from the sixth class day through the 11th class day will receive an 80 percent refund but of tuition only.
• A request with the Arkansas Department of Transportation to install and fund a stoplight at a proposed new campus entrance off North Arkansas Avenue in Russellville.
• Starting the architect selection process for the new campus entrance.
• Giving classified employees merit pay up to 3 percent at the end of the 2017-18 academic year.
• Awarding a 2 percent bonus to eligible faculty and nonclassified staff members at the conclusion of the current academic year.
Metro on 05/18/2018