Students at some Louisiana universities will have to dig deeper into their pockets this coming fall.
Southern University is raising fees on students by hundreds of dollars a semester, starting next month, to generate $4.2 million for campuses.
The student fee hike of nearly five percent was approved by the board of supervisors yesterday.
That applies to all Southern University campuses.
Meanwhile LSU’s Baton Rouge campus is also increasing students fees by five percent.
Louisiana house representative Barbara Norton says she’s concerned about families that can’t afford to pay more.
“I’m just concerned about the fact that it’s putting more responsibility on the parents when they’re already struggling,” she said. “I’m not sure if this is the right time to do this.”
LSU Shreveport’s Director of Media and Public Relations, Wendell Riley, said in an emailed statement that they will only be increasing tuition and fees by 1.2 percent. That’s no more than $80 per semester.
“LSUS plans to utilize this revenue to enhance faculty resources and instructional coaches in order to offer additional course sections and maintain a faculty-to-student ratio that aligns with our strategic focus,” he said.”The university’s goal is to improve first-year experience that will help with student retention and persistence across all programs.
The revenue will also be used to ensure the development and operation of cutting-edge instructional facilities such as the Cyber Collaboratory. The Collaboratory, which allows students to work alongside industry professionals in an applied, project-based environment, helps meet the needs of an ever-growing and evolving student population.”
The increase is a first LSUS has had in two years.
There are schools not following this trend.
All nine colleges under the University of Louisiana System have no plans of increasing fees in the fall.
Those schools include Grambling State University, Louisiana Tech University, McNeese State University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Louisiana at Monroe, and University of New Orleans.
The Universities of Louisiana VP for Marketing and Communication, Cami Geisman, said in an emailed statement:
“Our Board met last month and there were no increases on the agenda meaning no tuition or fee increases this fall at any of our nine member institutions. We sincerely appreciate the legislature’s work to provide stable funding this year. We don’t anticipate any significant increases but the earliest we would see a minor increase is in the Spring and only for strategic reinvestment.”
This all comes after lawmakers protected Louisiana’s colleges from budget cuts for the coming school year, by renewing part of an expiring sales tax.