University of Arkansas System institutions will propose their budgets for the upcoming year at the UA Board of Trustees meeting this Friday in Pine Bluff. Those proposals will include tuition and fee hikes to cover increasing costs, according to a press release from UA System Director of Communications Ben Beaumont. From the release:
UA System colleges and universities will ask for tuition increases to help pay for items such as facility maintenance, technology needs, rising benefit costs, new faculty members and other costs associated with increasing student enrollments.
“We must continue to keep tuition as reasonable as possible while maintaining quality at our institutions,” said Dr. B. Alan Sugg, president of the UA System. “It’s never easy to raise tuition, but I believe these proposed increases are necessary in an environment of rising costs, flat state appropriations and significantly increasing enrollment.”
A significant portion of campus fee increases will be dedicated to facility maintenance. All UA campuses have proposed new or increased fees to fund increasing maintenance costs. Currently, the only state funds that higher education institutions dedicate to construction and maintenance are provided through General Improvement Fund appropriations, which have declined in recent years.
The proposed changes can be seen here. For example, tuition and fees per credit hour at UA-Fayetteville will go from $225.58 in Fall 2010 to $239.11 in Fall of 2011. Full release on the jump.