10% tuition increase set for ATU-Ozark

Students attending Arkansas Tech University in Russellville will see a 6% increase in tuition, with tuition at the university’s Ozark campus to rise by 10%.

The ATU Board of Trustees on Thursday (May 19) approved a $118.7 million budget that includes $62,109 to renovate a facility on the Russellville campus that will support “the laboratory needs of the occupational therapy assistant program offered by Arkansas Tech-Ozark Campus.”

Undergraduate students on the main Russellville campus pay a $180 student semester credit hour fee in the fall of 2010, up from the $170 credit hour fee in the previous fiscal year. Tuition at the Ozark Campus rises 10% from $70 per semester credit hour in 2010-11 to $77 per credit hour in 2011-12.

The budget also calls for a 3% increase in meal plan rates on the Russellville campus for the 2011-12 academic year, and increases of 3.95% to 4.19% for housing rates in the 15 student housing facilities operated by ATU.

The budget does not include cost-of-living bumps for employees.

“We take the matter of offering great value to our students for their educational dollar seriously,” Arkansas Tech President Dr. Robert Brown said in a statement. “However, we cannot continue to make progress as a university without the necessary resources. We did not receive any increase in state funding for higher education this year.”

ATU is not alone with regard to state funding declines.

Officials with the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith propose a 7.1% tuition and fee increase to help fill the gap between an increase in students — up 3.3% in spring 2011 — and decreases in state funding. The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees is expected to vote Friday (May 20) on tuition and fee increases requested by UAFS, the University of Arkansas, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, University of Arkansas at Monticello and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Proposed increases in UAFS tuition and fees would set the fall 2011 per credit hour cost at $175.57, up 7.1% from $163.93 in fall 2010. Each UAFS student will for the first time be assessed a $20 per semester “facilities fee.” Tuition at UAFS increased almost 7% in 2010, with the average student paying about $159 more than in 2009. If the increases are approved, UAFS will remain the lowest among the five UA system universities.

Like UAFS, the ATU-Ozark campus has more students. The spring 2011 enrollment at ATU-Ozark was 1,406, up 15.9% compared to spring 2010 enrollment. Spring enrollment in 2010 at ATU-Ozark was up 53.5% compared to 2009.

Other actions approved by the ATU board on Thursday include:
• Approval of a letter of notification to be forwarded to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education that states that Arkansas Tech intends to make its existing bachelor’s degree in professional studies available to students entirely through distance learning beginning in spring 2012;

• Selection of AMR Architects of Little Rock to draw preliminary plans for a new academic facility on the Russellville campus; and,

• A proposal to select JSB Hams, Inc., as the food service provider for Arkansas Tech-Ozark Campus.