Colleges’ Funding Good for Arkansas

Benton county legislators proud of results

The University of Arkansas and NorthWest Community College are the region’s biggest beneficiaries of money appropriated by the 82nd Arkansas General Assembly. That bodes well for the institutions and the communities, say some legislators who are happy with the result.

They’re happy because the UA expects a 5.4 percent increase (amounting to $4.8 million) in its operational funding during the first year of the biennium and a 2.4 percent increase ($2.2 million) in the second year. Another $12 million-plus is expected for various capital improvements and research projects.

Benton County’s NWACC, the state’s second-largest two-year school and its fastest-growing, expects $1.5 million in state funding for capital improvements as well as a $500,000 allocation “equity adjustment” to help accommodate for the rapid student growth.

But at least one elected official, Sen. David Malone, D-Fayetteville, cautions that UA funding shouldn’t be looked upon as benefiting only the region.

“We did reasonably well in competition with all the other areas of the state,” Malone says. “But the problem is that the university needs to be looked upon as a statewide institution. The funds that go to the university shouldn’t be classified as Northwest Arkansas funds.”

Still, much of the money the UA gets will be spent in Northwest Arkansas. Of the capital improvements and research projects, there’s a $7 million allotment for instructional and research equipment and grant matching, a $4.1 million award for a biology laboratory building and $200,000 for the School of Architecture’s community design center.

Additionally, the institution will benefit from some funds that were awarded to other agencies through contracts. A $740,000 appropriation that went to the Soil & Water Conservation Commission is expected to be spent with the university, for example.

Other funding allocations may benefit the institution’s programs but may not be spent in the region. A $1.8 million appropriation was made for the Garvan Woodlands Botanical Gardens, a joint project of the UA’s architecture and agriculture programs. But Garvan Woodlands is near Hot Springs.

Malone says the UA did well in certain areas, especially in the operating budget increase it’s getting for the first year of the biennium and in some other allocations.

“I think we did good in the first year of the biennium,” he says. “I think the university had an excellent year in the one-time capital improvement money.”

The UA’s operating budget is $87.8 million. Chancellor John White has called the 2.4 percent increase expected in the second year disappointing.

Malone agrees.

“The funding for the second year is disappointing,” he says. “I can’t disagree with the chancellor that [we wish] the second year of the biennium … had been stronger.”

He adds, “It will probably mean that the campus will have to consider tuition increases to meet the goals that the chancellor has set for the campus.”

Two years ago, the UA got a 4.6 percent increase for the first year’s funding and a 3 percent increase for the second.

Benton County delight

Some Benton County officials are elated with the money appropriated to NorthWest Arkansas Community College.

“We made progress, no doubt about it,” says Jim Lay, chief financial officer for the two-year college where enrollment has grown more than 300 percent since 1990.

Lay says about 43 percent of the college’s $11.4 million budget for fiscal year 2000, which begins July 1, will come from state money. Student tuition will supply about 27 percent and the rest will come from a local property tax.

The institution received $500,000 from the legislature and expects another $1 million from the governor’s office toward the $2.9 million estimated cost of an expansion to the existing facility, Lay says. The college will seek private donations to cover the remaining costs.

But because NWACC’s enrollment has grown so rapidly – from 1,232 when it opened in 1990 to an anticipated 4,000 this fall – the college’s funding lags behind that of other two-year schools in the state. The average currently is just under $6,000 per full-time student, Lay says, while NorthWest received about $2,600 per full-time student.

For fiscal year 2000, the state average per full-time student at two-year schools is expected to be just over $6,000. NWACC’s per-student funding is expected to be between $3,400 and $3,500, Lay says.

To help compensate for that, the legislature gave the college a one-time $500,000 “equity adjustment.” Additionally, the school’s board may move up to $500,000 of its capital improvement money into its operating budget, Lay says.

“I suspect we will do that,” he says. “If we want to continue to increase our student population, that’s probably our only alternative.”

Other projects

The other fairly large allocation to the region was $750,000 for a law enforcement standards and training satellite facility, which will be used by officers from the Fort Smith area as well as Northwest Arkansas. Officials hope Gov. Mike Huckabee will appropriate another $450,000 toward the project.

There was also an award of $140,000 for a senior citizen center in Gravette and $206,000 to extend the Gentry water system.

Both those appropriations were important in his district, says Rep. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs.

A $100,000 award was approved for a communication center that will be a joint venture between several partners, including the Walton Arts Center and KUAF, the university radio station.

Smaller awards included $10,000 to help preserve Evergreen Cemetery, where several prominent people from Fayetteville’s past are buried; $22,500 to the Wheeler Volunteer Fire Department; and $5,000 for marking a route of the Cherokee Trail of Tears through Arkansas.

Hendren and Rep. David Hausam, R-Bentonville, both believe the region fared well this time.

“I think, as far as projects in our area, we came out better than we have in a long time,” says Hausam.

“I just think, overall, we did much better than during the last two sessions I’ve attended,” Hendren says. “I’m more pleased as far as fund distribution this time.”

Tunnel of gold

Because of a popular perception that Northwest Arkansas is wealthy, the region’s elected representatives say, it’s sometimes difficult to convince legislators from other parts of the state of the need for funding.

“I was really concerned” about that perception, says Hendren. “There’s always a little bit of resentment, I think, and this time it was worse than before because of the [Bobby Hopper] Tunnel [that helped complete Interstate 540]. I must have heard from 50 different folks … about this tunnel.

“They think this tunnel’s paved with gold,” he says. “Between the tunnel and the [Northwest Arkansas Regional] Airport, everyone thought we didn’t need another dime up here.”

This time, however, Hendren thinks something different happened.

“Political practicality took the place of some of those emotions.”