ATU approves budget that includes tuition and fee increases

The Arkansas Tech University Board of Trustees recently approved a $170.291 million budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The budget includes a more than 2% increase in student tuition and fees.

According to an ATU press release, the budget includes a decline in state funds, a decline in sales and services, and an estimated 10% rise in health insurance costs. The trustees approved a budget that does not increase the budget for maintenance, operations, and scholarships.

Tuition and fees for ATU students will increase. A student at the ATU campus in Russellville with 15 academic hours will pay tuition and mandatory fees of $5,113 per semester, up 2.55% compared with the previous academic year.

“Our number one priority during the budgeting process for the 2025-26 academic year was to maintain affordability for our students,” ATU President Dr. Russell Jones said in a statement. “It will cost $127.35 more per semester in tuition and mandatory fees for an undergraduate student to enroll in 15 hours at Arkansas Tech in Russellville next year than it did this year. We wish that number could be zero like it was when we submitted the 2024-25 budget, but in this time of inflation and given the other budgetary factors beyond our control as an institution, I am proud of the work members of our faculty, our staff, our student body and our administration put into this budget. We achieved our goal of keeping an Arkansas Tech education within reach for our constituents.”

Graduate tuition and mandatory fees at Arkansas Tech in Russellville will also increase by 2.55% in 2025-26, while tuition for the career education and skilled trades programs offered at ATU-Ozark will increase approximately $4 per student semester credit hour from $136.01 in 2024-25 to $140.09 in 2025-26.

ATU has around 1,300 – 700 full-time and 600 part-time – employees and student enrollment of around 9,000.