University students’ fee bills will be more costly this fall as tuition and mandatory fees will increase by 10 percent, due in part to the LA GRAD Act passed during the 2010 state legislative session.The GRAD — Granting Resources and Autonomy for Diplomas — Act gives state institutions of higher education the ability to raise tuition and mandatory fees if they meet annual performance criteria.The fall 2010 tuition boost of 10 percent is made up of a 5 percent increase from the GRAD Act and another 5 percent that was previously authorized by the state legislature.Fall 2010 tuition for an undergraduate enrolled in 15 hours at the University will be $2,884.70 for Louisiana residents and $8,276.70 for nonresidents, according to the Office of Budget and Planning website. That is up from $2,622.70 for residents and $7,197.70 for nonresidents in fall 2009.Should the University meet the performance standards outlined in the GRAD Act legislation, tuition and fees will increase by up to 5 percent again during the 2011-12 academic year and up to 10 percent more during 2012-13, giving the University an authorization to increase tuition by a total of 20 percent over three years under the GRAD Act.”The spirit and intent of the GRAD Act is to enable the universities to increase their tuition and mandatory fees to a level that is compatible with other southern region universities and at the same time to improve the overall campus performance,” said Mike Gargano, LSU System vice president for student and academic affairs.Gargano said many University students will not feel a large financial impact from the raise in tuition because the TOPS award will be increased with tuition and fees.The legislation says tuition can only be raised until it meets the Southern peer institution average, but the University is far enough from its peers that it is unlikely the average will be met in three years, according to Robert Kuhn, associate vice chancellor of Budget and Planning.”My opinion is we can go up 10 percent for a long time, at least meaning three or four years or more and not reach the latest published average of this group,” Kuhn said.According to the Southern Regional Education Board’s most recently published tuition averages, which are from the 2008-09 year, the University’s yearly tuition of $5,086 was $1,671, or 32.9 percent, lower than the average tuition at comparable universities.But for the University to raise tuition each year, it must meet the performance criteria outlined in the GRAD Act.The performance standards are divided into four categories — student success, articulation and transfer, workforce and economic development and institutional efficiency and accountability. The student success category requires the University to “achieve cohort graduation rate and graduation productivity goals that are consistent with institutional peers,” according to language in the GRAD Act. Some of the criteria in this category include bettering retention rates and graduation rates.Gargano said the University needs to improve graduation rates to remain competitive as a flagship institution.”We do have to recognize that for the LSU main campus to have a 59 percent graduation rate, that is far below the majority of its southern peers, and certainly way below its national peers,” he said.The second category, articulation and transfer, involves tightening admission standards and other necessary policies to increase efficiency in the relationship with transfer students and collaboration with other institutions.Workforce and economic development, the third category, deals with bettering technology use and research productivity, as well as the initiative to “eliminate academic program offerings that have low student completion rates … or are not aligned with current or strategic workforce needs of the state, region, or both,” according to the legislation.The final category is institutional efficiency and accountability. This category includes eliminating remedial course offerings and associate degree programs unless they cannot be offered at a community college in a nearby area.The University, as well as other institutions participating in the GRAD Act program, will submit its first report on meeting these criteria on May 15, 2011, Gargano said. Both the Board of Supervisors and Board of Regents will evaluate the report.If either of the boards are unsatisfied with the reports, they may request meetings with campus leadership to further discuss the evaluation before a final recommendation is made, Gargano said.Despite looming additional statewide budget cuts to higher education, Gargano said meeting the performance criteria during a time of financial uncertainty is “probably a lot easier than people want to believe.”Gargano outlined a three-step process universities can use to meet the GRAD Act’s retention and graduation rates requirements.The steps include standardizing all bachelor degree programs to 120 hours each, creating a detailed course map for every major offered by the University and admitting every new student directly into their major.Gargano said by keeping students on track with their academic requirements, the University can make it difficult for students to “slip through the cracks” and unnecessarily prolong their time at the University.”Emphasis needs to be placed on enrollment and student success, because in the end both the University and the student wins,” Gargano said.–Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]