Students may face $170 in additional fees if the state legislature passes a bill being introduced to the House of Representatives. Rep. Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge, filed House Bill 677, which will increase students’ operational fee. If Gov. Bobby Jindal signs the bill into law, the student operational fee may increase from $80 to $250 per semester. The bill will give the LSU System’s Board of Supervisors the authority to increase the University’s operational fee and will be effective once the bill becomes law. Smith said the University asked her to introduce the bill. Jason Droddy, assistant vice chancellor of Legislative and External Affairs, said the University recommended the operational fee increase. “The chancellor and the [system] president were in agreement that it might be necessary to raise a fee,” Droddy said. Jindal released the state’s operational budget for the next fiscal year, but Droddy said it only covers mandated costs. “In order to make the kind of progress [we need], there is nothing in the budget for that,” Droddy said. He said if the bill is signed into law and the fees increase, the revenue would go toward a faculty pay increase and meeting the Flagship Agenda’s goals. Robert Kuhn, associate vice chancellor of Budget and Planning, said TOPS will not compensate for the increased fees. Kuhn said TOPS only pays for tuition costs, and any additional fees such as the academic excellence fee and the operational fee must come out of students’ pockets.
“If the state decides they don’t want to [increase TOPS], they will go to an operational fee,” Kuhn said. The University had an unrestricted budget of $436 million in the 2007-2008 school year, according to the University Office of Budget and Planning’s Web site. State funds provide 58.1 percent of the revenue, while student tuitions and fees provide 35.6 percent. The remaining percentage is provided from other sources of revenue, such as logo licenses – the University makes a certain percentage from all items with the “LSU” name on it. Kuhn said all the revenue the University receives goes to a single account that goes toward all expenses. “The state did not put up enough money to cover these needed operational expenses,” Kuhn said. Droddy said if the operational fee is increased, there will be students who would be exempt from having to pay it. He said in the past seven years, all tuition and fee increases have had statutes which protected underprivileged students. The University equates monetary hardship to students who are eligible for a full Pell Grant. The University’s operational fee was implemented by the 2004 state legislature to cover unfunded costs the University incurs. The bill will be sent to the House Appropriations Education subcommittee before the House of Representatives can vote on it. This bill is not the only one being introduced to the state legislature. The legislature will also be voting on House Bill 734 which will increase the University’s tuition by 5 percent. Droddy said there is a possibility that both bills will be passed which means higher costs to students. But he said it is also possible that the legislature could appropriate enough money for higher education so tuition and fees do not have to increase. “My feeling is that how much the student pays and how much the state pays is a policy decision made by the governor and legislators,” Kuhn said. The House Appropriations Education subcommittee will meet Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the LSU System’s budget. “If the state just gives us $436 million, then tuition would be zero,” Kuhn said.
—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]