International students to pay hefty deposit

South Asia residents, as of Jan. 1, 2009, will be required to pay a $10,000 tuition deposit to ASU before being formally accepted to the university and issued an I-20 form.

The new requirement, approved by ASU's Board of Trustees during its Friday meeting at ASU-Mountain Home, came after students from south Asia used ASU to receive student visas then immediately transferred to community colleges.

ASU officials said the transfers did have negative effects on ASU finances through expenses in recruiting them and processing the students' visas.

The $10,000 tuition deposit will only be required of south Asia students found through Training and Advanced Studies in Management and Communications, Ltd. (TASMAC).

The deposit will be refundable to students until they receive a student visa based upon admission to ASU and issue an I-20 form from ASU. It is non-refundable after this point and will be forfeited if the students prematurely transfer before two semesters are up to offset the recruiting expenses.

The board also approved a tuition increase for courses and programs offered through the International Center for English to cover operating funds.

In other actions, the newly remodeled and adapted Chickasaw Student Services Center will now undergo a name change to become the new Eugene W. Smith Hall.

The renaming was adopted after university officials determined the Eugene W. Smith Center for Excellence in Education building, located at 102 North Caraway Road, had exceeded its practicality and usefulness" due to the building's age and "deteriorated" condition.

The Board of Trustees originally named the center on Smith's retirement as ASU's president on July 1, 1992.

The change is seen as "an appropriate way to perpetuate the permanent recognition of Dr. Smith's professional achievement while he was associated with Arkansas State University-Jonesboro," the resolution read.

Smith is, among many things, attributed to establishing ASU's first doctoral degree program in educational leadership, expansion of the Dean B. Ellis Library, the Division I membership in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and accomplishing early steps in forming the ASU System.

The board also approved name changes to:

• Name the Clopton Clinic Strength and Conditioning Room

• Name the Charles F. Luter Family Academic Success Center, located south of the football stadium. The center will serve to enhance education for student athletes. It was announced after a $400,000 donation from Charles F. Luter on Thursday.

• Rename U Street to Alumni Boulevard to honor the approximately 60,000 graduates of the university. The street runs from University Loop East to Stadium Boulevard between the Convocation Center and the football stadium.

In other actions for ASU-J, the board:

• Authorized the dedication of additional rights of way for the Westside Overpass Project.

• Approved a fall 2008 private athletic camp for baseball on and in ASU-J campus facilities.

• Approved establishment of lab fees from laboratory courses in the College of Sciences and Mathematics to support consumable supplies. The fees were raised from $10 to $20 for human anatomy and physiology I and II labs; from $10 to $50 for microbiology for nursing lab; from $0 to $20 for biology of animals lab; from $0 to $35 for biology of the cell lab; and $20 to $50 for microbiology lab.

• Approved adjustment of criteria for the out-of-state tuition waiver/scholarship to comply with NCAA guidelines governing student athletes.