Gov. Bobby Jindal outlined his higher education agenda Monday, including multiple measures to increase tuition.
Jindal addressed a collection of higher education leaders at Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
At the meeting, Jindal also reiterated his intention of keeping the cut to higher education at less than 10 percent of the state general fund expenditures.
Of the numerous proposals, two specifically involve tuition for University students.
Jindal proposed removing the cap on per-credit-tuition. Jindal’s proposal would raise the full-time hour requirement from 12 to 15 hours.
Jindal also proposed a new fee to be set at 4 percent of current tuition costs.
The agenda also outlined numerous ways to increase the autonomy of the University in the areas of purchasing, hiring, human resources and budgeting. Jindal said these increased autonomies are predicted to save the University “tens of millions” in the first five years.
Most of these proposals would require meeting performance benchmarks in graduation, retention and overall completion rates. The University already meets most of these requirements.
Jindal also reiterated his support for consolidating the higher education governing boards into one streamlined board with “a laser-like focus on student performance.”
Jindal also reiterated his support for the study into the merger of the University of New Orleans and Southern University-New Orleans.
These proposals will come as part of a legislative packet to be debated in the upcoming legislative session.
Check lsureveille.com later for more details.
 
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Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]