ASU-Jonesboro vote to increase room, board rate

Arkansas State University System trustees unanimously agreed Friday to raise room and board rates at its Jonesboro campus.

Folded into that vote, the trustees also raised board rates for its Beebe campus. The vote came a week after the University of Central Arkansas increased its room and board rates, citing an increase in its food vendor contract and maintenance needs. The University of Arkansas System has not yet set 2015-16 rates for its campuses.

ASU Jonesboro's 4.2 percent increase will help with general maintenance costs at the university's residence halls and with increasing food prices, said Rick Stripling, vice chancellor for student affairs. The rates have increased every year at the Jonesboro campus because the cost of living has increased and items aren't the same price as they were a year ago, he said.

"We start this process in November," Stripling said. "We try to be as conservative as we possibly can in determining this amount. We work with our constituents on campus and with our student government to help them understand why we need this increase."

The new rates -- which vary depending on a student's choices on a number of meals and living situation -- will take effect during the first summer term this year.

The university's Student Government Association supported the measure, association President Logan Mustain said Friday. Mustain said he met with Stripling and Craig Johnson, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, during a 90-minute meeting about the new rates.

"They wanted to remain competitive with other universities and keep our facilities where they wanted it to be," said Mustain, 21, a third-year student from Benton. "We did remain competitive."

The meal plans alone will increase by 5.4 percent, Stripling said, but 1 percent of the meal-plan hike will go toward food costs while the rest will go toward a student's flex plan -- a new addition. The flex plan allows students to spend at other on-campus eateries, such as Godfather Pizza or Chick-fil-A.

Mustain said he liked that students could have more money for their flex plans.

Most students who live on the 13,144-student campus have some form of an unlimited board plan, which allows students to eat cafeteria meals either each day of the week or Monday through Friday. The cheapest seven-day unlimited access plan will go from $1,450 to $1,520 per semester. In that scenario, the student will get $50 more in his flex plan.

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ASU-Jonesboro vote to increase room, board rate