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With what seems to be an epidemic of tuition increases, Louisiana largest university system has decided to increase student tuition as well, in order to pay for the rising costs of maintenance. With students already struggling to pay the costs of tuition today, what will happen to them? What are the lawmakers in Louisiana saying?
What’s Happening?
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Students will be further indebted by student tuition this spring when they return back to school. Louisiana largest university system has decided to increase their tuition for students across all its campuses this spring, in order to raise $9 million to compensate for the rising costs of maintenance.
This money will be directed towards paying faculty wage raises, technology, and service upgrades, more courses offering and student aid.
According to the US NEWS, students will be witnessing growing fees such as $15 per credit hour at McNeese State University, $18.59 at UL-Lafayette, $10 at UL-Monroe, $7 at Northwestern State University and $5.30 at Southeastern Louisiana University. According to the system, for full-time students that equals a $180 fee increase per semester at McNeese, a $223.08 increase at UL-Lafayette, a $120 increase at UL-Monroe and a $63.60 increase at Southeastern.
Despite this agglomeration of money, students who attend Grambling State University are still required to pay a $100-per-semester technology fee. For students attending the University of New Orleans, parking fees and charges for students enrolled in education and human development courses are also looking to go up.
House Speaker Taylor Barras, a New Iberia Republican, thought of this hike to be shocking.
“It was a shocker, certainly,” said House Speaker Taylor Barras, a New Iberia Republican. “I was quite surprised to see how quickly the decision was made to raise fees. Quite frankly, that was disappointing.”
Barras also said he heard from many lawmakers displeased when the LSU Board of Supervisors raised fees only days after that tax deal was done.
But even though there have been many complaints about this increase, some administrators support this tuition hike.
“These were anticipated and justifiable when you consider that Louisiana continues to have the lowest resources per student in the South,” University spokeswoman Cami Geisman said.
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With this seemingly being a battle between school administrators and city lawmakers, the politicians have their hands tied in this matter, as lawmakers in the past have given them the freedom to adjust and modify their own student fees within negotiated parameters until mid-2020.
Speaker Barras worries, “Can we expect that every year there will be a fee increase on students?”
In other words, Speaker Barras’ statement sounds more like, “have we made a mistake?”
But that is up to the students to decide.
