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Cossatot Community College |
CCCUA Keeps Costs Down and Student Aid, Grants Up
09 November 2004
DE QUEEN - The National Postsecondary Education Cooperative, the data collection
agency for the U.S. Department of Education, reported that for 2004 Cossatot
Community College of the University of Arkansas was among the top colleges at
keeping costs down while increasing the amount of federal aid and scholarships
to students.
The report compared CCCUA with 68 other colleges of similar size in Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Each college submitted data about various aspects of college operations to the Cooperative.
CCCUA ranked as one of the least expensive schools to attend, and was ranked as the top school for getting the highest amount of federal grants per student. It secured $4,000 per fulltime degree-seeking student in federal and state aid compared to an average of $2,687 for other colleges in the study.
While the college maintains a low tuition rate and maximizes its efforts to find financial aid for the students, it did not fare well in faculty salaries. CCCUA salaries are, on average, $1,100 below the other colleges, and the college staff tends to teach more courses than faculty at other colleges. Additionally, state resources allocated to the college based on fulltime student enrollment also lagged well behind the other colleges, by $1,147.
CCCUA Chancellor Frank Adams said, “The study verifies what we already knew. The Financial Aid Office of the college is one of the most aggressive, and probably the smallest, staffs in the region for trying to find money for students to go to school. This top ranking is being achieved with a financial aid staff of two full-time and one part-time person.”
When asked why Cossatot faculty salaries were lower than comparable schools in the states studied Adams said, “There are only two ways CCCUA can substantially raise salaries. One is through an increase in state funds to bring us up to the level of other similar size colleges. The other is to raise tuition. Raising tuition substantially is not the best route to take, because 80% of our students already need financial aid just to get by while attending classes.” He added, “Every dollar increase in tuition means the student has that much less for gas, rent, food, clothing and other necessities.”
Adams continued, “Being $1,147 behind the other colleges in faculty and staff salaries does not bother me as much as what has happened during the last legislative session when the legislators provided funds to substantially raise public school salaries. Compared with the public schools in the counties surrounding the college, CCCUA is $3,000-$5,000 behind beginning teachers in public schools with a Bachelor’s degree. My faculty and staff must have a Master’s.” He added that the college has lost two faculty members so far to the public schools and the higher salaries. “Not only do we lack funds for salaries,” he said, “we are once again stretched to the limit on building and grounds upgrades and repairs, despite the taxes coming from local sales taxes in Sevier and Howard Counties.”
There is a small ray of light, however. “I am very happy to note that Cossatot’s operations costs compared favorably with the other colleges. We are well below the average in each category of expenditures,” Adams said.
What about more legislative support for this coming year? Adams believes the defeat of the public school millage initiative will create a $90 million state revenue shortfall. He said, “The legislators will have to find funds for public school improvements to satisfy the State Supreme Court’s mandate. I am concerned that some of the funds will come out of Cossatot’s hide even though we operate frugally and are a very good value for our students. We have learned to do more with less each year, but we can not do more with nothing.”
The graph below compares CCCUA with 67 other colleges in the multi-state analysis.
Cossatot Community College offers both technical certification and Associate’s degrees in a wide range of fields on its campus at De Queen, at extension sites at Nashville and Ashdown, and at cccua.edu. It has an enrollment of more than 1,000 students, and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
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