An online-only university created in 2014 by the University of Arkansas System will delay paying back the principal on a $5 million loan from other campuses as enrollment revenue falls short of expenses.
The UA System started eVersity to attract older learners who may have completed some college, officials have said.
"The challenge for us is that this population is a little more difficult to recruit and get started than we probably anticipated," Michael Moore, the UA System's vice president for academic affairs and chief academic and operating officer for eVersity, told the 10-person University of Arkansas board of trustees.
Enrollment was 838 for the school's most recent term of study, UA System spokesman Nate Hinkel said in an email. In the 2017-18 academic year, eVersity has awarded 13 bachelor's degrees. The eVersity also awards associate degrees and certificates, and has conferred a total of 43 credentials in 2017-18, Hinkel said.
The board of trustees met Wednesday and Thursday at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, approving an extension of how long eVersity will pay only the 1.75 percent interest on a loan made with funds distributed from other campuses within the UA System.
The original plan was for eVersity to have two years of interest-only payments before beginning to pay the principal, but that period has now been extended to four years.
State funds of about $2 million helped eVersity in its earliest stage, but the school does not receive annual appropriations of the type received from the state by other public colleges and universities.
In the same meeting, trustees approved an annual budget for eVersity for the 12-month period that begins July 1. The budget documents state that in the current fiscal year 2018 funding in part came from "$500,000 in GIF from Governor [Asa] Hutchinson," a reference to general improvement funds.
For the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, the school projects an operating loss of about $600,000 based on revenue of about $2 million from tuition and fees. The loss is expected to "be covered by System Administration reserves," according to the budget document.
The board approved an eVersity tuition increase, with the rate rising $10 per credit hour to $175, an increase of 6.1 percent, according to budget documents.
Metro on 05/25/2018