While higher education’s share in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s preliminary budget is no smaller than last year, it relies on students’ pocketbooks to fill the gap.
The governor’s $24.9 billion spending plan calls for more than $11 million in funds raised from reformatting tuition rates at the state’s community colleges.
Jindal’s proposal seeks to phase in standardized tuition rates charged at community colleges. This would elevate all community colleges to the priciest tuition rate assessed at community colleges today.
Jindal’s budget claims the new rate would still be below the Southern Regional Education Board average for two-year institutions. The average increase would be $190 per student, according to Jindal’s budget outline.
Louisiana’s community college tuition levels were set at the date when the school was created, so older schools have lower tuition and have no chance to make funding strides because tuition is increased in percentage increments, according to the budget proposal.
The governor’s budget claims this reform is important to technical colleges because current tuition levels waste federal dollars.
“Roughly 70 percent of technical college students qualify for Pell Grants, yet technical college tuition is just 21 percent of the average Pell Grant award. With this legislation, schools will have the authority to phase in an increase to 55 percent of the average Pell Grant, which is still lower than the 62 percent SREB average,” the budget outline states.
The proposal will be presented as legislation later during the session, and if it fails, it would leave a funding hole that could be filled by a budget cut.
Higher education is already getting an infusion of millions from tuition increases allowed by the LA GRAD Act passed last year. The Legislature will debate a number of initiatives that would increase students’ contribution to their education.
Legislators grilled the governor’s commissioner of administration last week about the use of student fees to fill the budget hole.
“You’re not doing more with less, you’re doing it with more. You’re doing it with increased fees, taxes, in my opinion,” said Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans.
 
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Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at
[email protected]