The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has waived its student application fee and initiated other efforts to ease the financial burden for incoming college students and their families.

“At UA Little Rock, we are always looking for ways to enhance opportunity for prospective students,” Chancellor Christina Drale said. “We are easing some of the financial burden brought on by COVID-19 to help incoming students and their families more easily begin their college careers at UA Little Rock.”

UA Little Rock will waive the $40 application fee when students apply and use the code Trojan2021 through Dec. 31.

“We know that finances are always at the forefront of a student’s educational planning,” said Jonathan Coleman, interim assistant vice chancellor of enrollment management and director of financial aid and scholarships. “This is true now more than ever, and we believe in supporting our incoming undergraduate freshmen and transfer students.”

UA Little Rock is also reaching out to students who were admitted to UA Little last fall but did not enroll, perhaps because of uncertainty.

“There are many people out there who chose to delay college because of the loss of their job and other uncertainties associated with the pandemic,” Coleman said. “We’re honoring any original merit scholarships offered this past fall to students who would like to change their entrance term to next spring or fall.”

For students who want to get a new start in 2021, UA Little Rock is offering a new need-based scholarship that will help students, especially those with financial burdens brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, pay for out-of-pocket educational expenses.

“Occasionally, students have unmet financial needs even after all federal, state, and/or institutional aid has been exhausted for the semester,” Coleman said. “For the spring 2021 semester, we are excited to offer a new need-based opportunity for students who would like to begin at UA Little Rock. New Year, New Trojan has been designed to help offset the out-of-pocket costs a student might experience their first semester at UA Little Rock.”

The New Year, New Trojan Scholarship program is available for incoming freshmen and transfer students arriving in the spring 2021 semester who are eligible for a PELL grant. The scholarship will cover any university charges that are not covered by the student’s federal, state, and/or institutional aid. Eligible charges include tuition, fees, on-campus room, and board, plus a small award to help with books and supplies.

UA Little Rock has also modified its admission requirements to underscore the increased difficulty of taking standardized tests during the pandemic.

Incoming students now have two options for admissions. High school graduates, with no minimum GPA required, can be admitted with a 19 composite ACT score or a 1010 SAT score. In the second option, incoming students with a minimum high school GPA of 2.25 can be admitted with 15 ACT subscores in English, math, and reading.

Freshman merit scholarships, whose amounts are usually based on a combination of ACT scores and high school GPA, are now only based on an incoming student’s high school GPA if those students have a minimum ACT composite score of 20 or 1030 SAT composite score. These renewable academic merit scholarships can provide between $2,000 and $5,000 a year for tuition and fees and between $1,000 and $5,000 a year for on-campus housing.