Legislators vote for tuition hike

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By Kelley Cox

Students may need to stretch their dollars even further after legislators passed a bill to increase the cost of higher education.

La. legislators passed HB734, which allows public colleges and universities to increase tuition 3, 4, or 5 percent over a four-year period. The percentage of increase will depend on how the price of the colleges and universities current tuition compares to the tuition of similar institutions across the South.

The increases at four-year institutions, ranging from $234 a year at Louisiana State University’s Baton Rouge campus to $137 a year at Louisiana Tech University, will require the state to pump another $5.3 million in 2008-09 into the TOPS scholarship program. The TOPS scholarship program will rise to $7.1 million over the next four years. Students who have the scholarship will not see an increase because TOPS pays tuition and some fees.

Rep. Don Trahan, R-Lafayette introduced the bill. Trahan and higher education officials said Louisiana’s institutions are charging low rates and need to increase tuition in order to provide more services to students and compete with their peers.

Rep. Elton M. Aubert, D-Vacherie, supported the bill.

“To attract the best personnel, you have to pay them. If you don’t pay them, they will go somewhere else,” he said.

While most representatives passionately argue that public higher education institutions in Louisiana need a tuition increase to improve the quality of the institutions, no legislators had publicly discussed possibly pumping money into public colleges and universities instead of using those tax dollars to pay for the 125 percent legislative pay raise that was almost passed but recently vetoed by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Aubert, who supported the bill to increase legislative pay, refused to address the legislative pay raise other than saying that La. legislators have not received a pay raise since 1980.

Aubert said that no students protested the tuition increase. He added that many students actually lobbied in favor of the tuition increase.

“Students came out to the capital and asked for tuition increase,” he claimed. “No students lobbied against it.”

Aubert said the students at LSU will not be affected by the tuition increase because the requirements to receive the TOPS scholarship are below the admission requirements at LSU.

“If a student can get in to LSU, the student will have TOPS. TOPS covers the tuition increase,” he said.

LSU students who are not residents of Louisiana will be responsible for paying for the tuition increase, as they are not eligible for the TOPS scholarship. As of spring 2008, 3,907 out-of-state and 1,394 out-of-country students were enrolled at LSU. The number of non-Louisiana resident students made up about 20 percent of the student population.

Current LSU tuition is $4,621 a year for full-time Louisiana residents and $12,921 for out-of-state residents. LSU tuition could rise as much as $1,000 by the 2011-2012 school year under the newly passed bill.

Aubert did not have any specific suggestions as to how the money generated by the tuition increase should be spent.

“Put it into the classrooms,” he said.

When asked to further explain the need for a tuition increase and how the money should specifically be spent, Aubert said he had “other phone calls,” and could not answer any more questions.

Although state legislators increased tuition, the colleges and universities are responsible for allocating the money generated by the tuition increase.

Rep. Walker Hines, D-New Orleans, supported the tuition increase and voted against the legislative pay raise.

“It’s important to equip our colleges and universities with the equipment necessary to meet the needs of students and parents,” Hines said. “With rising operation costs, it’s vitally important to raise tuition.”

Although Hines supported the bill to increase tuition at public colleges and universities in Louisiana, he said it is “fiscally irresponsible to force the legislature to be the ultimate oversight” of tuition costs and the distribution of tuition dollars.

Hines said the tuition increase is “more than fair. This is a very small raise,” but added that legislators “need to let the board of directors of colleges and universities have sole discretion over [tuition costs].”

Some LSU students may not see the need for a tuition increase at LSU, especially after LSU installed flat screen television in Middleton Library to display the same information that is displayed on computer screen savers across campus.

“I don’t see the need for a tuition increase at LSU,” said political science senior Jennifer Reboul. “Have you walked around the campus? You can see LSU employees doing absolutely nothing [while they are] on the clock, or you can go to the library to watch a screen saver on a $2,000 TV. It seems like LSU is finding ways to waste money, not spend it on things we actually need.”

Other students think that the increase will help LSU become a better institution.

“I took out loans to pay for my in-state LSU tuition; I know the financial stress that accompanies a college education. This new bill will cause more financial stress for some people, but it will also provide schools with better equipped facilities and supportive, intellectual faculty. Although I can understand why this bill was not 100 percent supported, I think it is necessary for our future and Louisiana’s future,” spring 2008 LSU graduate Christine Smith said of the bill.

Louisiana is the only state in the nation that requires a two-thirds vote of the state Legislature to increase tuition.

Originally Published: Issue 691 - July 2, 2008

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