Arkansas has 15 private and 12 public 4-year colleges that enroll 15,395 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $22,355 for in-state students and $28,992 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in Arkansas charge around $24,095 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, Arkansas provided $14.3 million in financial aid to 7,427 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $96.5 million in grants and scholarships to 11,119 students.

Arkansas receives less than 1% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 5,996 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $29.6 million in pell grant ($4,531 per student on average), and 7,548 students received a total amount of $41.3 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($5,814 per student on average).