(October 2013) In-state undergraduate tuition costs for students attending Arkansas’ largest public universities continue to outpace inflation despite the lowest multi-year increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since the early 1960s.
CPI increased 12 percent between 2008 and 2013, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.1 The increase is among the lowest of the postwar era. Comparable periods occurred between 1952 and 1957 when CPI increased 7.9 percent, and 1959 to 1964 when CPI grew 7.4 percent. Annual inflation was less than 2.0 percent 10 times in the period.
CPI increased less than 2.0 percent only three times2 in the next 50 years before falling again in the Great Recession (December 2007-June 2009).
Yet tuition costs for in-state Arkansas students exploded in the subsequent period. Tuition3 for an in-state undergraduate student taking 30 credit hours at the Univ. of Arkansas-Fayetteville increased 26.8 percent versus 12 percent CPI. Tuition cost $5,010 for 30 credit hours, or $167 per credit hour (2008-09), and $6,353 for the same credits, or $211.77 in 2013-14.4
In-state undergraduate tuition costs at Arkansas State University increased 14.7 percent. Tuition cost $4,890 for 30 credit hours, or $163.00 per credit hour (2008-09), and $5,610 for the same credits, or $187.00 in 2013-14.
Tuition costs for in-state students at the Univ. of Central Arkansas increased 12.6 percent. Tuition cost $5,100 for 30 credit hours, or $170 per credit (2008-09), and $5,745 for the same credits, or $191.50 in 2013-14.5
1 “Consumer Price Index, 1913-,” http://www.minneapolisfed.org/community_education/teacher/calc/hist1913.cfm, includes 2013 estimate (1.7%). Other years: 2008 (3.8%); 2009 (-0.4%); 2010 (1.6%); 2011 (3.2%); and 2012 (2.1%).
2 CPI was less than 2.0% in 1986, 1998, and 2002, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis data.
3 Excludes fees, room and board and other expenses.
4 University of Arkansas Catalog of Studies
5 http://uca.edu/budget/files/2012/02/Budget-Prep-Book-FY13.pdf
