A-State OKs $403 million budget with 4% tuition hike

By the Arkansas Delta Informer Staff

June 3, 2026 – The Arkansas State University System Board of Trustees, which recently named a new president of the state’s second-largest university system, today approved a combined $402.6 million operating budget for 2026-2027, including a 4% tuition increase at the system’s flagship campus in Jonesboro.

Interim System President Robin Myers said the overall system budget reflects investments in retaining and recruiting employees, the addition of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Arkansas State University and increased costs for utilities and insurance.

“Our campuses continue to prioritize student success and quality higher education while working hard to hold expenses under control and keep tuition as affordable as possible,” Myers said. “We are also seeing a lot of reallocation of resources to meet the demands for new programs.”

The new ASU budget comes a week after the board of trustees announced that Todd Shields, chancellor of the system’s flagship campus in Jonesboro since 2022, would become the fourth president of the ASU System, effective July 1.

Simultaneously, at the recommendation of interim Myers, the board also voted to name Dr. Calvin White, executive vice chancellor and provost at A-State, as interim chancellor. Shields will succeed Dr. Brendan Kelly, who left the system in December to become president of his alma mater, Eastern Michigan University.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Myers introduced Shields as incoming system president and Dr. White as interim chancellor at A-State. At last week’s board meeting, ASU Chair Robert Rudolph said Trustee Price Gardner of Little Rock will work to negotiate contracts with both Shields and White prior to today’s meeting, but no announcement was made concerning those financial arrangements.

Before he resigned, Kelly’s five-year contract provided for an annual salary of $450,000 to lead the Arkansas State University System, based in Little Rock, which serves almost 39,000 students annually on campuses in Arkansas and Queretaro, Mexico, and globally online.

 Henderson State University in Arkadelphia became the system’s second four-year institution member in February 2021. The system’s two-year college institutions include ASU-Beebe, with additional campuses in Heber Springs and Searcy; ASU-Newport, with additional campuses in Jonesboro and Marked Tree; ASU-Mountain Home; ASU Mid-South in West Memphis; and ASU Three Rivers in Malvern.

Among the key parts of the budget for the upcoming school year, the 17,000+ campus in Jonesboro will see a 6.3% increase in its operating budget, from $236.4 million to $251.4 million. That capital budget includes the new College of Veterinary Medicine, and combined tuition and fees will increase by 4% to $10,850.

Opening later this fall, the Arkansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) – the state’s first – will welcome its first cohort of students after receiving its letter of Reasonable Assurance from the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education in April.

“We are thrilled to have received our Letter of Reasonable Assurance, which allows us to begin recruiting and admitting students for entry this fall,” said Dr. Heidi Banse, dean of the CVM, on April 3. Banse said the college had a tremendous number of applicants for its inaugural class. The application portal is now closed

A-State broke ground on the Jonesboro campus in March 2025 for a $33.2 million, 56,000-square-foot facility that will feature state-of-the-art laboratories, a surgical skills training area, flexible classrooms, study spaces and 24/7 clinical skills practice areas. A topping-out ceremony was held in October 2025, with construction nearing completion.

Shield said in April that the news is a historic achievement for A-State and the state as the first College of Veterinary Medicine in Arkansas. “Our College of Veterinary Medicine will open new doors for students while strengthening the future of animal health, agriculture and rural communities across the Mid-South,” he said.

In other A-State budget news, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia saw a 2.6% increase in operating budget from $52.2 million to $54.8 million. Combined tuition and fees will remain at $10,560 annually.

Trustees also approved $132.5 million in capital improvement and $3.2 million in deferred maintenance projects across the seven system institutions, which have identified some $475 million in total deferred maintenance needs.

Henderson State’s full-time faculty and staff will each receive a $2,000 salary increase, which is their first positive compensation adjustment since they took a 20% pay reduction and a 40% cut in retirement benefits in 2019. Henderson Chancellor Trey Berry said he is hopeful about being able to do more for employees as enrollment trends continue to improve.

Henderson State officially joined the ASU system in early 2021 after financial troubles and debt nearly pushed the four-year university into insolvency.  Under ASU’s helm, Henderson moved forward with a reorganization plan four years gao that included a modified cash budget model and returned the Clark County college to a traditional budget consistent with other ASU campuses, officials said.

Gardner thanked the system and campus financial teams for their work on the operating budgets. He noted they “work to make higher education affordable when so many expenses aren’t controllable. It’s more of a challenge every day.”

He also thanked Berry and all Henderson employees “for the sacrifice you have demonstrated since coming into the system. I wish we could do more and we will as finances continue to improve.”

During the board meeting in Arkadelphia, Berry also shared an overview of significant progress on the southwest Arkansas campus across multiple areas. He said, “Heart Start orientation is the best gauge of enrollment, and we’re showing 38% increase over last year. We’re in a very good place at Henderson State. We have our third balanced budget in a row.”

Berry described notable growth in the Arkansas Aviation Academy, with 55 freshmen entering the program; the band program, which will double from 50 to 100 students; and the new track and field program, which had a goal of 60 student-athletes but is now expecting 90 this fall.

Henderson also raised $6.7 million in private funding over the past year, the largest amount raised in a single year from 1,319 donors, including 605 new donors. The Board of Trustees approved the following FY2027 budget and tuition plans for each ASU System institution:

 • ASU-Beebe – a $31.1 million operating budget with a combined tuition and fees increase of 3.5% to $4,440 annually.

  • ASU-Mountain Home – a $12.8 million operating budget with a combined tuition and fees increase of 2.9% to $4,320 annually.

  • ASU-Newport – a $20.1 million operating budget with a combined tuition and fees increase of 2.8% to $4,410 annually.

  • ASU Mid-South in West Memphis – a $14.8 million operating budget with combined tuition and fees remaining flat at $4,770 annually.

  • ASU Three Rivers in Malvern – a $9.2 million operating budget with a combined tuition and fees increase of 6.6% to $5,300 annually.

In other board business, Rudolph thanked Myers for his second term of service as interim system president and Berry for his efforts on behalf of Henderson.