The Arkansas Tech University Board of Trustees approved tuition and fee changes as part of a $161.1 million operating budget at ATU for the 2017-18 fiscal year during a meeting at the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center on Tuesday, May 30.
Included in the budget is a 3.19 percent tuition increase for undergraduate students on the Arkansas Tech campus in Russellville. Undergraduate tuition will increase from $219 per student semester credit hour (SSCH) in 2016-17 to $226 per SSCH in 2017-18.
Graduate and doctoral tuition will increase from $274 per SSCH in 2016-17 to $284 per SSCH in 2017-18, while tuition on the Ozark campus of ATU will increase from $118 per SSCH in 2016-17 to $122 per SSCH in 2017-18.
Tuition rates will continue to be doubled for out-of-state students who do not qualify for an out-of-state tuition waiver.
“To our students and their families…please know that tuition and fee increases are carefully and seriously considered as part of the budgeting process and again when they are presented to our Board of Trustees,” said Dr. Robin E. Bowen, ATU president. “The additional revenue created by the increases approved by the board will be reinvested in our students in a manner consistent with our strategic plan and our focus on student success.”
Trustees approved the second and final phase of a two-year plan to eliminate the athletic transfer fee for students on the Russellville campus and replace it with an athletic student fee.
The athletic student fee will be $18 per SSCH in 2017-18.
“The 2017-18 rate for the athletic student fee will align Arkansas Tech University with the standard for such fees at several other similarly-positioned institutions of higher learning in our state,” said Bernadette Hinkle, vice president for administration and finance at ATU.
Recently published athletic student fees at other Arkansas universities include $17.75 at Henderson State University, $18 at Southern Arkansas University, $18 at the University of Central Arkansas, $19 at Arkansas State University and $20 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Additional fee changes on the Russellville campus of ATU are $1 per SSCH increases in the facilities fee and the instructional support fee as well as implementation of a library fee of $1 per SSCH and a public safety fee of $2 per SSCH.
Hinkle indicated that the new rates for the facilities and instructional support fees will address increases in costs associated with academic support and facilities maintenance, while the library fee will enable for an expansion of digital research subscription offerings, archival software and library book inventory.
“The public safety fee will help support operational costs to include a communication center, deferred maintenance, security improvements, student success programming, fulfillment of strategic plan goals and mass notification costs,” said Hinkle.
Fee increases for the ATU campus in Ozark include $1 per SSCH increases for the technology fee and the instructional support fee as well as a $3 per SSCH increase for the career and technical education general technology fee. Funds generated by the fee increases will support computer services and infrastructure, library needs and laboratory and software purchases.
