University students may see an increase on their fee bills, pending legislative approval and implementation by the LSU Board of Supervisors.
Students generally are uninformed about how the Academic Excellence Fee, which has been in effect since spring 2000, is used by the administration. Even fewer have heard about the possibility of a fee increase in at some point in the future.
The current fee, amounting to $125 per semester for full-time students or a prorated amount for part-time students, is designed “to promote academic excellence at the institution by enhancing instructional programs,” according to the original legislation that put the fee into effect.
Interim Provost Laura Lindsay said the fee is crucial to the proper operation of the University in a time when state funding has not covered all expenses.
“The fee will be a portion, but only a portion, of the support for University initiatives,” Lindsay said.
Chancellor Mark Emmert praised the fee, saying it has allowed for increased numbers of classes offered, reductions in the number of students in each class and significant increases in support for supplemental instruction and tutoring.
“There has been a visible increase in both the quality and quantity of services,” Emmert said.
Last year, the fee brought in $5.94 million in revenue. Most of the money went to particular colleges, the LSU Libraries, the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and Multicultural Affairs, according to a summary distributed by the Chancellor’s Office.
Emmert said he would like to see an increase in the fee to further finance these and other projects.
“While we have no definite timetable for increasing the fee, we will ask the legislature for the permission and flexibility to increase the fee,” Emmert said.
The move to increase fee flexibility may happen if new legislation in the state House and Senate are enacted.
House Bill No. 1421 and Senate Bill No. 313 by Rep. Kenneth “Mike” Smith, D-Winnfield, and Sen. T. Taylor Townsend, D-Natchitoches, both call for additional authority for education management boards, such as the Board of Supervisors, to “establish tuition and attendance fees” for Louisiana students.
The bills, if passed, would allow the board to replace the current limit on fee increases from $250 per year to a maximum increase of 3 percent above current tuition rates annually.
House Bill No. 1429 by House Speaker Charlie DeWitt, D-Alexandria, would grant the Board of Supervisors the authority to increase the Academic Excellence Fee to $175 per semester.
DeWitt’s bill also does not allow for TOPS recipients to be excused from the fee increase, meaning that only the administration could decide on whether exemptions would be granted. Students not receiving TOPS, such as out-of-state and graduate students, would not be exempted.
While the set of bills would not automatically increase the fee, the legislation would authorize the board to increase fees and tuition once passed.
Scott Woodward, director of external affairs for the Chancellor’s Office, said DeWitt’s decision to file the legislation was his own, made after some discussion with the administration.
“Every legislator has the right to file whatever they want,” Woodward said. “This bill is really a placeholder for if we decide to increase the fee after discussing the possibility with Student Government, the Faculty Senate and others.”
Woodward said no decision has been made by the Chancellor’s Office to request the board go forward with the fee increase.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Woodward said.
Students expressed a lack of knowledge about the possible fee increase but said any increase should guarantee results.
Ervin Hodges, a kinesiology junior, said while he always sees the charge on his fee bill, he never really knew exactly what the money went to.
“If it will be used to really make a difference, the [additional] $50 may be worth it,” Hodges said.
Construction management sophomore Rudy Thorgeson said he was not worried about the possible increase, since his scholarship currently pays for the fee.
“I don’t have TOPS, but I have a scholarship,” Thorgeson said.
When informed there was no guarantee scholarship recipients would be exempted, Thorgeson said the value of the fee would have to be proven.
“If there are extra sections of classes, it may be worth paying,” Thorgeson said.
These bills have been assigned to the legislative education committees and will be debated on the floor in the upcoming months.