Colleges adding to business education.

MORE ARKANSAS institutions are expected to offer business-related degrees in 2006.

On July 29, the Arkansas Department of Higher Education Coordinating Board approved requests from ITT Technical Institute's Little Rock campus and the University of Phoenix's new Rogers campus, which should open in 2006, to offer business degrees.

But Jerry Peters, regional director of Webster University in Little Rock, said time will tell if supply of business education will outstrip demand, as Webster--which also has a campus in downtown Fort Smith--also offers a master's in business administration.

Meanwhile, despite rising college costs at practically every school in the state, most of Arkansas' colleges and universities remain below the national average in tuition prices.

Nationally, four-year public colleges saw the biggest increase last school year, according to the College Board in New York City, rising 10.5 percent to $5,132.

Going into the 2005-06 school year, almost all of the state's four-year public colleges remain below that mark, according to this year's Arkansas Business' list of colleges and universities in Arkansas.

The next-highest increase came at two-year public colleges, whose average cost rose 8.7 percent from the previous year to $2,076. Most of Arkansas' two-year schools still hover below the $2,000 range.

Even Arkansas' pricier four-year private schools mostly remain well below the national average, which rose 6 percent last year to nearly $21,000.

At Hendrix College, however, tuition increases are catching up to the national average. New students at the Conway private college will pay 29.2 percent more than last year. Hendrix's $21,000-plus price tag makes it the most expensive undergraduate program in the state.

Even so, Hendrix still touts its value. Karen Foust, Hendrix's vice president for enrollment and dean of admission and financial aid, explained that the tuition hike was needed to pay for a new hands-on type of learning program at the school. Your Hendrix Odyssey is designed to add practical experience to academic learning with programs like undergraduate research, study abroad or job internships.

Along with higher college costs, loans--which have to be paid back--last year outpaced grants, which don't.

Still, the College Board, one of the country's best-known higher education nonprofits, says there is plenty of good news for college students and their parents.

There is more than $122 billion in financial aid available to students--more than ever before. And while private college tuition is expensive, about half of all students attending them pay less than $6,000 per year for tuition and fees. Almost three-quarters of students attending public schools pay less than that per year.

The news is even better for two-year schools. Nationally, the average student at a two-year public college receives grant aid that covers the entire tuition amount.

New Classes

ITT Technical Institute, which has its headquarters in Carmel, Ind., received the green light to offer a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and business accounting technology.

ITT Little Rock's president, Thomas Crawford, wouldn't comment on the new program because it still has to be approved by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges & Schools.

"We can't advertise or do anything [such as] make any public statement about any of that until we get our accreditation through ACICS," Crawford said.

David Landau, ITT spokesman, said he doesn't expect to see ACICS approval until later this year.

While ITT's core courses are in technology-related fields, it has been pushing to add business courses to its campuses nationwide.

"It's just a natural blend to mesh our core competence in the technology-related arena with a general business degree program," Landau said. "Businesses today use a lot of technology. We wanted to offer something to folks who didn't necessarily want or were interested in pursuing technology-related fields or careers."

Landau declined to talk more about the program or ITT's strategy to attract students until it receives ACICS' approval.

The University of Phoenix, which has been in Little Rock since 2003, is gearing up to open a Rogers campus in the first part of 2006.

The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board allowed the school to offer a Bachelor of Science in business and information technology and a master's degree in management and business administration.

University of Phoenix President Wade Anderson said he didn't have a strategy yet for attracting students to the school. He also wouldn't say how many students he is expecting.

"This is a booming sector, especially in that part of the state," Anderson said.

The school receives calls all the time from people looking for classes in northwest Arkansas, he said.

"People are looking for a way to get ahead and be more prepared," Anderson said.

Capella University of Minneapolis received its recertification from the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board to offer several business-related degrees including a Bachelor of Science in business and information technology, as well as a master's degree in business administration.

The programs are offered online to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville's employees as part of the company's My Education Connection program, according to the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Since the school began offering the program in 2003, 28 Arkansans have enrolled.

A spokeswoman for Capella didn't immediately return a call for comment.

MBA programs have been turning out about 250,000 graduates nationwide a year for the past 10 years, said Webster University's Peters. But those numbers might not hold up in the next couple of years, he said.

"I think we're seeing a change in what the needs are of corporations throughout the country," Peters said. "And MBAs are not necessarily fulfilling the need of most corporations."

Webster's own MBA enrollments fell 38 percent between fall 2003 and fall 2004, in part because of tougher standards, Peters said.

Peters said a liberal arts curriculum might be becoming more popular for managers.

"We've all become so specialized now most people are responsible for managing human beings, and that is not a number-crunching experience," Peters said. "Even though many MBAs believe they can still be crunched, people don't crunch very well. They like to have a little softer touch."

New Faces

Nine schools on Arkansas Business' list of colleges and universities have introduced new administrators since last year's list.

Longtime Ozarka College president Douglas Rush was fired last month by the school's board of trustees. Rush, who was president of the Melbourne college for a dozen years, allegedly did not use competitive sealed bidding for some school purchases but denies any wrongdoing. While the college searches for a new president, Gayle Cooper, the school's vice president for finance, will serve as interim president.

Philander Smith College in Little Rock found a replacement for Trudie Kibbe Reed, who is now president of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla. Walter Kimbrough is now president of Arkansas' oldest private historically black college.

At National Park Community College in Hot Springs, Sally Carder; previously vice president for technical education, replaced Tom Spencer.

Robert Myers took over for the retiring John Sullins at Blytheville's Arkansas Northeastern College.

After nearly nine years as director of the Department of Workforce Education, Steve Franks took over for Roger Worsley as chancellor of Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia.

Charles Welch, who is vice president of the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges, became chancellor of the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope. He was also a 2005 member of Arkansas Business' "40 Under 40."

Alan Rasco was vice president for academic affairs and student services at Galveston College in Texas before he became president of El Dorado's South Arkansas Community College.

Terry Kimbrow took over for Charles Attebery as president of Central Baptist College in Conway.

And Mary R. Jarrett is serving as interim president for Arkansas Baptist College after Israel Dunn Jr. left the post.