The Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to send a proposal to the Louisiana Legislature that could increase tuition for all students in the LSU system by 3 percent — meaning LSU students may have to pay $63 more each semester.
Though the board passed the referendum at yesterday’s meeting on the LSU Eunice campus, it must be approved by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget to go into effect.
The LSU system includes: LSU A&M, University of New Orleans, LSU Shreveport, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, LSU Eunice, LSU Alexandria, LSU Health Science Center-New Orleans and LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport.
Each campus will set its own date for implementing the tuition, and LSU System President William Jenkins must approve that date.
If the legislative committee passes the proposal, full-time students will face a $63 increase in their tuition each semester, giving the University a net revenue of approximately $3 million per year.
Part-time students and students enrolled during the summer and intersession will pay the increase in proportion to the number of classes they take.
“This was an inevitable case,” said Chancellor Sean O’Keefe, who sits on the board. “The tuition was going to go up no matter what.”
Louis Lambert, chair of the board’s budget and finance committee, said the increases are not in response to a budget deficit.
“This is not to fill a hole,” Lambert said. “This is to improve what we already have.”
O’Keefe said that although the University has not decided how it will use the money, its major goal is to increase the quality of programs on campus.
“I was glad to see that [the proposals authors] put the proposal’s together in such a way that there is some leeway on timing to promote discussion of how best to use the increase,” O’Keefe said. “But the tools are in place.”
Student Government President Brad Golson, who sits on the board, said the board is in a difficult position when faced with questions of tuition increases.
“We find ourselves in a catch-22,” Golson said. “If we don’t find funding, we have to cut programs already in place on campus. We have come too far to take steps back now.”
Golson — the only member of the board to vote against the referendum — said although he understands the need for increased funding, he does not think a tuition increase is the best way to gain the necessary funds.
“We have to start thinking long-term and of creative ways to raise funds so we don’t always have to use tuition increases to raise money,” Golson said. “We can work together to find the necessary funding. A tuition increase every year is not the way to go.”
The tuition increase comes as the result of a 2001 Louisiana Legislature act that granted the board the authority to increase tuition for all campuses in the LSU system.