FAYETTEVILLE -- A major award program for out-of-state students attending the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville is expanding eligibility for its most generous scholarships to include Georgia residents.
Incoming students from Georgia enrolling in the summer or fall 2021 will be eligible for UA's New Arkansan Non-Resident Tuition Award Scholarship for Surrounding States that reduces by 70%, 80% or 90% the gap between more costly out-of-state tuition and the tuition rate paid by in-state students.
Last fall, 1,645 degree-seeking new UA freshmen received the award, said Suzanne McCray, the university's top enrollment official. The university's full degree-seeking freshman class totaled 4,601 students.
Students from outside Arkansas in recent years have made up about half of UA's incoming freshman classes, with the university relying on their numbers to boost enrollment and tuition revenue in an era of mostly flat state appropriation dollars.
"We added Georgia because of our desire to expand our outreach and in doing so increase the visibility of the University of Arkansas and the state," McCray said in an email.
Georgia is now on UA's list of nine "surrounding states" that includes Illinois and Kansas as well as bordering states Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Louisiana.
Students receive the aid based on their GPA and test scores -- or college course grade-point average for transfers -- without having to apply separately for the awards.
A minimum 3.2 high school grade-point average and 24 ACT score is required for the 70% award. Students must have a 3.4 grade-point average and 26 ACT for the 80% award and a 3.6 grade-point average and 28 ACT for the 90% award.
A similar award is available for incoming students to UA who reside in other states, but it tops out at 80% of the difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition.
Out-of-state students at UA mostly come from Texas, with 5,978 Texan undergraduates enrolled last fall. Undergraduate students from Georgia totaled 47.
But McCray said a rise in the number of Georgia students at UA is anticipated "after the issues associated with the pandemic have been addressed."
She noted direct flights from Atlanta to Northwest Arkansas National Airport that can help students feel closer to home.
The latest change in the Non-Resident Tuition Award Scholarship comes after UA saw its total enrollment decrease in fall 2019 for the first time in two decades. While the total enrollment dipped by less than 1% -- to 27,559 students -- it was driven by an approximately 8% decline in the size of UA's freshman class.
Georgia has thousands of students leaving the state to attend college, according to federal data.
In fall 2018, a total of 18,941 first-time degree-seeking undergraduate students left the state to attend college elsewhere, according to data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics. The number was the ninth-largest among all states.
"Georgia has an SEC school, and so students there will likely be familiar with our university and may decide that we are a great option for them. The NRTA [scholarship] will give us a recruiting edge there," McCray said.