FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas system Board of Trustees approved an increase in tuition and fees at the Fayetteville campus during their Thursday, May 25 meeting.

The increases will go into effect for the fall 2017 semester.

Tuition for in-state undergraduates will increase by $6 per credit hour and mandatory fees will increase by slightly more than $2 per credit hour. This results in a 2.75 percent increase, the smallest increase for undergraduate students from Arkansas since the 2010 academic year. Out of state undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees will go up by 4.92 percent.

"Ideally, the University of Arkansas would not have to raise tuition or fees on our students and their families, and believe me this action is not taken lightly," said Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz. "Even though we did not receive an increase in funding from the state, I'm pleased that we managed to keep this increase to the smallest amount since 2010.  We worked to keep the budget lean and to contain costs. In addition, we asked our administrative units to cut 1 percent from their budgets and the academic units to reallocate 1 percent of their budgets toward strategic priorities. Ultimately, we are doing what we need to do to continue to provide a quality education for our students and fair, competitive compensation for our outstanding faculty and staff."

In-state graduate students will see a 2.66 percent increase in tuition and mandatory fees, while out of state graduate students' rates will go up by 4.95 percent. These are also the smallest increases in recent years.

The majority of non-mandatory fees, associated with specific colleges or programs, will remain the same, but some have increased for the 2018 academic year.

All University of Arkansas tuition and fee changes for 2017-18 can be found here.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.