Louisiana Board of Regents member Robert Levy called the LA GRAD Act a “double-edged sword” in a meeting Wednesday while discussing the necessity of legislative support for tuition autonomy.

Signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal in 2010, the LA GRAD Act was initially intended to reward higher education institutions for improvements, said Larry Tremblay, deputy commissioner for Planning, Research and Academic Affairs.

“Now it’s punishing institutions because of budget cuts,” Tremblay said. “Institutions have said, ‘you keep taking money away but expect us to get better.’”

Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell, who spoke before a joint legislative committee on education Tuesday, stressed the importance for legislative support regarding management control over tuition.

“We’re looking at how to move higher education forward,” Purcell said. “We’re finding a means for which to support higher education.”

If a school fails to achieve the LA GRAD Act’s benchmarks, such as set retention rates, completion rates and graduation rates, the school loses tuition authority and 15 percent of its performance funding for the year, said Assistant Commissioner for Program Administration LeAnn Detillier.

“The problem is that budgets are being cut and institutions have to reduce staff. They’re having to do a whole lot more with a whole lot less,” Detillier said. “We’re saying we want to see improvements in retention, completion and all these areas where it makes it a lot more difficult when you have a lot less support services and things on campus to help you do that.”

Levy referred to the LA GRAD Act as an “800 pound gorilla.”

“As money becomes less and requirements become more, there will be a calamity at a large four-year school,” Levy said. “It was not designed to bring the schools to their knees.”

The LA GRAD Act was not designed to bring the schools to their knees.”