Learning and Education

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Arkansas

The Basics Arkansas (or ARR-Can-Sass according to my elementary school teachers in Wichita Kansas) is a two system state with a few indys. Education is funded mostly via tax appropriations with some (10% ish) funding from the Arkansas Lottery. The two systems have a governor appointed Board of Trustees and each Indy has its own BoT.

Fast Facts

Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (2 exceptions)

Oldest college: Lyon College (formerly Arkansas College), a private liberal arts college in the NAIA. The Scots’ last football game was in 1950. (Edit: Football resumed in 2014 and now the Scots play in the NAIA)

Oldest public school: The University of Arkansas

Highest “ranked” public school: The University of Arkansas

“Richest” public: The University of Arkansas

Largest by enrollment: The University of Arkansas

Community Colleges: Community college structures seem to happen in 1 of maybe 4 ways. A state wide system, community college districts that function similarly to school districts, community colleges that are a part of a school district, or community colleges that are a part of the larger university systems.

Arkansas has a hodge podge with some community college districts, and some community colleges that are a part of the UofA or AState systems. JuCo athletics is a part of Region 2 of the NJCAA along with Oklahoma JCs. Region 2 however does not offer football. UA-Little Rock played JuCo in the 1950s, but that’s the extent of it. Outside of the FBS flagships, the Arkansas-Cossatot Colts and the AState-Midsouth Greyhounds both compete in athletics at this level.

University Systems:

The University of Arkansas System:

The UA system has 6 universities, 1 med school, 7 community colleges, and 6 special units each with a chancellor that reports to the system president.

Special units, which are not a part of any university, include the Clinton School (in Little Rock), the Arkansas Archeological Survey, The Rockefeller Institute in central AR, the Criminal Justice Institute (in Little Rock), The AR School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (a high school), and the Division of Agriculture (which is the name of the state’s cooperative extension, also based in Little Rock). The Med school in Little Rock is also a standalone institution not affiliated with UA or UALR beyond being in the system.

The University of Arkansas: The Hill, Arkansas, UofA. R1, land-grant. Legally it’s just UofA, but you will also see U of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The Razorbacks of the SEC. Founded in 1871. Amazingly the first Black student and the first woman attended just a year after its founding, and was surprisingly (for a land-grant) named Arkansas Industrial (as opposed to Arkansas A&M).

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock: UALR. R2. Founded as a JuCo in 1927. Granted university status in 1957. Became a public UA in 1969. The D1 Trojans do not play football, and got kicked out of the Sunbelt for it. They make neat little boats for homecoming.

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff : UAPB. Founded in 1873. Master’s College. Land Grant HBCU. The Lions play in the FCS SWAC. Founded to be the HBCU of the state because, while UA was integrated, the state as a whole was not. Used to be called Arkansas AM&N.

Fun fact about UAPB is that the only pHd program it offers in aquaculture (aka fish farming) was almost annexed by UA Fayetteville. It was a big dramatic issue that UAPB ended up winning and continues the weird tradition of being one of the handful of southern HBCU land-grants that houses the state’s aquaculture programs. This is my field so I will continue to point this out as this series moves along. Being the only research arm of the campuses land-grant mission, the program still does answer to the Division of Ag, which is of course dominated by Fayetteville CALS influence although separate from it.

The University of Arkansas at Monticello: Masters College. Founded in 1910 (became 4 year in 1928) and was originally called Arkansas A&M. Being now Arkansas- Monticello they still use a stylized A and M as a logo, which is really neat for them. Plays D2 football as the Boll Weevils. Women’s sports are the Cotton Blossoms. UAM also houses Arkansas’s school of Forest Resources.

The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith: Founded in 1928 as a JC, became a UofA four year in 2001. The D2 Lions do not sponsor football.

The University of Arkansas Grantham: This is an online branch of the UofA System. Founded as a for profit school in Los Angeles in 1951 the predecessor of Grantham University grew to have distance learning centers all over the country. The college reincorporated in Louisiana in the 90’s and was hit by Hurricane Katrina, when it the again relocated to Kansas City. It finally “joined” (I am assuming was bought by) the UofA system in 2021 and is now a public school that only offers online education. Programs not to be confused with online degrees and classes provided by other UofA campuses. Grantham has never had a football program in any state, but they do have an Eagle mascot as an homage to its rich history of being a GI bill leach. It remains nationally accredited.

The University of Arkansas eVersity: The UofA System homebrew online school. Founded by the UofA Regents in 2014 as the independently accredited degree granting institution of the University of Arkansas. Also nationally accredited and should also not be confused with UA campus online degrees. Its currently being rolled into UA Grantham, so don’t get too excited to apply. It has a CAO instead of a chancellor.

The Arkansas State University:

The AState system has 2 universities, 1 med school partner, and 5 community colleges each with a chancellor that reports to the system president.

Arkansas State University: R2. Founded in 1909 as one of the state’s district A&M schools (similar to UAM). Was renamed to Arkansas State College, and finally University.

It’s considered the state’s second flagship in the sense that it is the only other system flagship, not because it gets the same funding and rights that UofA Fayetteville does. But still. That is an impressive stat for the Red Wolves of the Sunbelt. There is a branch campus that awards Jonesboro degrees located in Mexico. The Lobos Rojo play in both Mexico (ONEFA) and the NAIA.

Henderson State University: A public liberal arts college. Founded in 1890. The Reddies play football in D2.

New York Institute of Technology Med School: NYIT, NY Tech has a medical campus on the AState Jonesboro campus and actually uses AState buildings. DO degrees offered are the same as those awarded in Long Island NY. NYIT is a private school with Arkansas, NY and Canadian branches. Not formerly a part of the AState system, but they exist on campus as a part of the community so I included them. The Bears are in D2 but all athletics have been suspended. They didn’t play any football anyway. Last gridiron game was in 1983.

Independent Colleges:

University of Central Arkansas: UCA. Master’s college. The Bears have a purple and grey field and play in the FCS Atlantic Sun. Founded in 1907 as a normal school. Still pumps out the most teachers for the state. Women’s teams play as the Sugar Bears. They worked their way up from the NAIA in the 80s to D1, and whooped up on the Southland competition during the transition year from d2 to d1 in 2006.

Arkansas Tech University: Like AState, and UAM ATU was founded in 1909 as a district A&M highschool that became Arkansas Polytech in 1925. Official long form name became Arkansas Tech University in 1976. A Master’s college that also has a technical college campus. The Wonder Boys play football in D2. Women’s teams are the Golden Suns.

Southern Arkansas University: Another 1909 district A&M school. Became a university in 1949. Currently a Master’s college. The Muleriders play football in D2. They have a “bed race” for Family Day.

It’s technically a system because there exists a Southern Arkansas University Tech which is a separately accredited technical 2 year. SAU Tech are the Rockets, and as mentioned above, do not play football.

Fun Facts and Honorable Mentions:

Private schools that play in the d2 Great American Conference include: The Ouachita Baptist Tigers, and the Harding Bisons.

Hendrix College (Warriors) plays football at the d3 level.

AState used to be the Indians. Their old logos did not age well. Secondary fun fact. Red Wolf is a separate species of wolf from the more common gray wolf.

For those who are truly lost on this subreddit. A Razorback is a type of wild pig, so the U of Arkansas teams are also fondly called the Hogs.

Arkansas offers instate tuition to residents of neighboring states. Making a mean spirited nickname of UofA "UT Fayetteville" due to Texas' huge population and brain drain issues.

Arkansas is on the list of states that offer free 2year higher education. In reality it's a grant for STEM majors that turns into loan if the condition of 3 years of fulltime gainful employment in the state isn't met in some timeframe.

Instate Rivalries:

D1: Despite always being in the same subdivision of football Arkansas State and the University of Arkansas have never played a game of football together. This changes in 2025. Location: Little Rock. Any name ideas?

D2: Plenty of great rivalries in division 2.

Battle of the Ravine: Henderson St vs Ouachita Baptist. Both schools are in the same city (Arkadelphia). Tigers lead on the Reddies 45-43-6

ATU v College of the Ozarks: Arkansas Tech used to have a rivalry with College of the Ozarks that went defunct when the Ozarks Eagles stopped playing football in 1965.

EDIT: "A retired rivalry was between UCA and Arkansas Tech who played for the Governor's Cup. Probably related, but Conway (where UCA is located) and Russellville (where ATU is located) are also big high school rivals." -

Battle of the Timberlands: UAM vs SAU. Named after the forested region. SAU leads the series 58-37-1. Trophy is three big ol’ trees with a football and some guys on it.

Other:

"Fun fact. Hendrix plays Lyon in a "rivalry" in football for the world's wildest trophy, the Scotzilla."-

Edit: Inconsistent reddit formatting rules

I work as a professor for a uni on the east coast of the USA. What strikes me the most is the decline in student writing and comprehension skills that is among the worst I've ever encountered. These are SHARP declines; I recently assigned a reading exam and I had numerous students inquire if it's open book (?!), and I had to tell them that no, it isn't...

My students don't read. They expect to be able to submit assignments more than once. They were shocked at essay grades and asked if they could resubmit for higher grades. I told them, also, no. They were very surprised.

To all K-12 teachers who have gone through unfair admin demanding for higher grades, who have suffered parents screaming and yelling at them because their student didn't perform well on an exam: I'm sorry. I work on the university level so that I wouldn't have to deal with parents and I don't. If students fail-- and they do-- I simply don't care. At all. I don't feel a pang of disappointment when they perform at a lower level and I keep the standard high because I expect them to rise to the occasion. What's mind-boggling is that students DON'T EVEN TRY. At this, I also don't care-- I don't get paid that great-- but it still saddens me. Students used to be determined and the standard of learning used to be much higher. I'm sorry if you were punished for keeping your standards high. None of this is fair and the students are suffering tremendously for it.

Fraternities and sororities add no unique value to the college experience that other forms of community and club organizations already provide.

It’s an unpopular stance given that a lot of folks do find community and lifelong friends through Greek life. But the downsides outweigh any upside that even it couldn’t claim as uniquely theirs.

First, it really is a way for students and alumni to do stupid things outside (or on the periphery) of university governance. In this end, it’s just a continuation of high school cliques when people should actually be much more integrated into the university itself.

Second, the idea of rushing/pledging is a dumb ritual to create the veneer of exclusivity and merit, when really it’s just a form of unnecessary hazing. It also generates a culture of elitism that has no place in society and does a poor job preparing anyone for the real world after college.

Third, the bad rep they tend to have on campus just confirms how little the university as a whole benefits from these. Not only do “frat houses” actually take away property from actual folks living in the community near the university, but they’re generally disruptive and a safety hazard most weekends due to excessive partying.