Tuition Hike to Hit 600 Students
UCA has more than 600 international students from 68 countries, the second-highest amount of any state university, but that could change with university policy next year.
UCA plans to charge international students out-of-state tuition beginning with the fall 2011 semester. Currently, international students pay the lower in-state tuition rate if they maintain at least a 3.0 GPA or live on campus.
The change would double the cost for international students. In-state tuition is $170 per credit hour. Out-of-state tuition is $340 per credit hour.
International students face big tuition hike
Lisa Shoemake, director of international student services, said she was worried about the effect of the tuition increase.
"We fear this tuition change will have a negative effect on UCA," Shoemake said. "It's too bad. The population of internationals will decrease. Maybe it will shift to the other cheap universities like Arkansas Tech University or Arkansas State University."
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is the only school in the state with more international students than UCA.
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Ms Minegishi:
No decision on OOS tuition has been made by the University yet. I am not sure where you
got your information but we are discussing various options regarding Out of State students (included in this group is International students) but no recommendations have been made yet.
Though there may not be a specific amount set for OOS, this information is very necessary to keep the students of UCA aware. Thanks for the heads-up, Mr. Minegishi.
The information presented in this article from The Echo seems to affirm this story.
http://www.ucaecho.net/stories/index.php?id=2236
"With the decrease in scholarships because of this law, the school cannot make up the difference for a tuition waiver for international students, since the funds would count against the public scholarship cap.
'There is a federal law compliance issue," Grahn said. "There is a state law compliance issue. It's a fair question, but right now we're balancing things in other ways.'"
Since the issue is not monetary, but is instead one of compliance with federal and state laws, it seems evident that international students will be paying OOS tuition.
lawlz @ previous comments
Thanks for keeping us informed, Kazuma; great story!
I did speak to Kazuma about this issue. I told him in no uncertain terms during our conversation that while there had been discussion about eliminating the out of state tuition waiver for all students that live in campus housing (not just international students), but that no final decision had been made and discussions are continuing.
Lisa Shoemake
At one of the forums, the president pointed out that if the Board of Trustees recommended changes to existing policies, he would ask that current students be allowed to continue on under the policy in force when they arrived. We need to verify our information before making it public.
I would like to think that the President of UCA was concerned about issues, however I find myself feeling more like he is concerned about his own image. The Fountain did not state that students would definitely face these hikes but that they were in talks; which is correct and was talked about by UCA President Meadors himself on video. Personally I feel like UCA elite staff members felt this idea on a tuition increase for international students would go over well because they felt other students in the general population would look over the concept blindly because it did not affect them. Well Mr. President it’s your move, because we do care. P.S it’s Mr. Minegishi
Lindsey M., thank you for correcting me, sorry Mr. Minegishi.
I was responding to this paragraph:
"UCA plans to charge international students out-of-state tuition beginning with the fall 2011 semester. Currently, international students pay the lower in-state tuition rate if they maintain at least a 3.0 GPA or live on campus."
At this time, we have not made any decisions on recommendations to the Board regarding this matter (not sure there is a policy regarding the 3.0 part of this). In what video did you think I said this was going to occur? We have never talked about International students specifically but have discussed some alternatives to Out of State tuition (which would include International Students, since they are obviously Out of State). The one we have discussed as possibly submitting to the Board is the reduction of Out of State tuition from 200% of In State rate to 150%. Where do you get your information. It is always best to ask the source and not depend on rumors.
I believe you will find that over the past year that possible changes that would or might effect students have been discussed with SGA and openly discussed in several Forums.
In addition, as I mentioned at a forum, it will always be our goal to keep a major change (which no longer allowing Out of State students In State rates, if they lived on campus, would be) to only effecting
students who came after the changes and not making it retroactive to current students.
I hope this clarifies your concerns and again, please ask the appropriate individuals when you have questions. Thank you.
Question-What did the President of UCLA, Harvard, and the University of Arkansas do today?
Answer- Their jobs.
Question- What did the President of UCA do today?
Answer- Complained about specifics on a student run blog.
Just looking at it this briefly, let me try to understand. You can get lower tuition if you are a U.S. resident from another state after 6 months. This does not apply to international students. But international students currently get lower tuition if they maintain a 3.0 GPA. Why can't international students get lower tuition if they live in Arkansas for six months or can they? Or, can out of state U.S. residents get lower tuition if they maintain a 3.0 gpa? Is this state law? Can we talk to the state legislature and make a case for our international students? Let's have some fun. Again, I might be overlooking some things but I was just told about this article so I had to chime in.
Let's consider the purpose of charging out of state tuition -- to assess charges to those who have not contributed to the cost of their public higher education through the payment of state income taxes. It's not that in-state students are getting a better deal; it's that they have already offset some of the expense of attending a college in-state through their payment (or their parents' payment) of state income taxes. Essentially, allowing out-of-staters to receive an in-state rate means that my tax dollars are supporting someone who has not paid his/her fair share.
I say the board needs to charge these international students the right amount that they owe. I don't want my parent's money and the money of my future family paying for someone (whether a U.S. citizen or not) who has not contributed to the state of Arkansas.
"Question-What did the President of UCLA, Harvard, and the University of Arkansas do today?
Answer- Their jobs.
Question- What did the President of UCA do today?
Answer- Complained about specifics on a student run blog."
It seems as though Lindsey M. does not want to concern their self with the facts. Rather, they see most involvement as being an attempt to save face. Unfortunately, most public matters are not reducible to a simple effort of saving face. The substantive claims made are what should be the concern, not simplifying your own position down to a meager attack of the person.
President Meadors addressed the information and was critical of it. I value that type of input. Whether or not what he says is true and to what extent the article is true should be your concern, not sophomoric diatribe.
I can similarly make the claim that students at all those schools were busy doing their work and going to class, while you took the time to time to construct a useless comment in bad taste on a small news blog.