LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas colleges and universities will spend about $279 million on athletics during the upcoming school year.
State law requires all state-supported institutions of higher education to certify their budgeted revenues and expenditures for athletics. The results are submitted every summer to the state Higher Education Coordinating Board.
State law also requires that institutions must clearly define all student fees used to pay for athletic programs. On statements to students, institutions must list athletic fees separate and distinct from tuition and other student fees.
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is one of 11 institutions that do not charge athletic fees. According to their submissions to the Board of Higher Education, they expect to meet the costs of their athletic programs without assessing fees.
The Razorback athletic program is by far the largest in Arkansas, with budgeted expenditures for next year of about $181 million.
The smallest athletic program is at Arkansas State University in Newport, which will spend about $195,000 on athletics next school year. The second smallest is at Phillips community College of the University of Arkansas, which has budgeted about $215,000 for athletics.
The second largest athletic program is at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, which has a budget of $24 million for next year. The third largest is at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, with a budget of $17 million.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will have an athletic budget of almost $13 million. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff budgeted $7 million for athletics. South Arkansas University at Magnolia budgeted $6.8 million for athletics and Henderson State University in Arkadelphia budgeted $6.7 million. The athletic budget at Arkansas Tech in Russellville is $6.2 million.
The Razorback program generates revenue from ticket sales, licensing fees, concessions and contributions that no other campus in Arkansas can match. Besides not assessing student athletic fees, the campus does not transfer into its athletic program any money from its state educational and general funds.
If the University at Fayetteville is excluded from the calculation, student fees generate 29.4 percent of the athletic program budgets for 22 two-year colleges and nine four-year universities.
Workforce and Career Education
At a recent meeting the Higher Education Board heard a presentation on the status of workforce education in Arkansas at colleges and universities. Students do not get credit for taking the courses, but they learn skills in demand at the top companies in Arkansas.
The most popular course is in business, management and marketing. The second most popular is in engineering and related technologies. The third most popular is in health professions.
In the 22 two-year colleges in Arkansas, only half the courses are open enrollment for any student registered at the college. The other half are limited to employees of specific industry partners.
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