The Louisiana Board of Regents is recommending to the Louisiana Legislatures that the state’s public higher education institutions’ management boards be allowed set their own tuition.
Louisiana is one of only three states in the nation whose state legislature has tuition authority, and it is the only state that requires a two-thirds vote by the House and the Senate, according to the report at the Board of Regents meeting Monday.
“Allowing management boards to set tuition at their respective institutions would restore fiscal stability in this changing environment of declining state funds,” the report said.
Management boards such as the LSU Board of Supervisors would be allowed to charge per credit hour and according to major, the report stated.
Without alternative sources of revenue to offset reductions in state funding, institutions would be forced to reduce their course offerings, which would negatively affect graduation, according to the report.
Tuition for undergraduate schools like LSU will be limited to the Southern Regional Education Board average, which is an average of peer institutions in the South, said Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell.
“The policy that we’re bringing forward would always make sure that tuition in Louisiana is going to be a bargain for students. We’re not going to ever be the highest-priced product. We’re going to try and get close to the average for the South, which makes us very competitive,” Purcell said.
Graduate and professional schools would be able to exceed the SREB average, he said.
“The policy that we’re bringing forward would always make sure that tuition in Louisiana is going to be a bargain for students.”
