Tuition fees for Academics

[MelRock]

Where did Farmer say that?

At the diamond club luncheon. I believe he also mentioned that the next meeting was some time in the next month. Hopefully it will be in place for the fall.

[USL1970]

This is really bad news for students, and hope that it does not pass. Tuition for students is already escalating. This would put a double whammy on them.

Educators and politicians have really created sort of a shell game with trying to raise "tuition to the southern or peer average."

If you are in the bottom half (like Louisiana), everytime you raise tuition, then the average becomes "higher," and when everyone else raises tuition above you, then the "average" becomes that much higher. It becomes a never ending chase for the "average" with tuition skyrocketing.

It is trulty a shell game of statistics and mathematics that in not good for the students.

However, we must remember that with "one foot in a fire pit, and the other in a bucket of ice," on the average we feel just fine.

[ULGrad@HOU]

This is really bad news for students, and hope that it does not pass. Tuition for students is already escalating. This would put a double whammy on them.

Educators and politicians have really created sort of a shell game with trying to raise "tuition to the southern or peer average."

If you are in the bottom half (like Louisiana), everytime you raise tuition, then the average becomes "higher," and when everyone else raises tuition above you, then the "average" becomes that much higher. It becomes a never ending chase for the "average" with tuition skyrocketing.

It is trulty a shell game of statistics and mathematics that in not good for the students.

However, we must remember that with "one foot in a fire pit, and the other in a bucket of ice," on the average we feel just fine.

Listen, people have got to get over this education for cheap mindset. UL's tuition is not high, in fact it is insanely low. It's not just about averages, it's about funds to run a University and UL is strapped for funding in academics and athletics. You need to check other Sun Belt schools for their tuition (not ULM) and you will find, UL needs a price increase.

[USL1970]

UL may need a price increase, but the system is now setup to cause tuition to escalate too fast, and college in the not to distance future will be beyond the means of many.

Have you not heard about the student loan crisis in America?

We need to manage our educational dollars much better and raise more funds for our endowments to supplement our total expenses for both athletics and academics.

[CRAWFISH61]

TOPS is a major culprit. Raising tuition passes cost to the LA taxpayer. This means the legislator and governor dread raising tuition because it cost the state so much. This is why the want to use fees. Fees are not covered by TOPS. It will allow funds to be raised without raising the cost to the state budget. My oldest is a junior. I have paid her last tuition to Tuerlings. I just hope fees ect don't equal that little chunk of change. I was hoping to finally buy a HDTV and get rid of the 32" Sony that won't die.

[CajunDreDog]

Is TOPS killing this state?

[Hammer58]

Listen, people have got to get over this education for cheap mindset. UL's tuition is not high, in fact it is insanely low. It's not just about averages, it's about funds to run a University and UL is strapped for funding in academics and athletics. You need to check other Sun Belt schools for their tuition (not ULM) and you will find, UL needs a price increase.

Forget checking other SunBelt schools, check out our tuition compared to other schools in this state. Considering our academic standing and programs offered there is no reason we should be charging less than anyone other than LSUA&MC.

[Germdawg2004]

Louisiana's full-time college students could be on the hook to pay an additional $300 or more per semester in new fees over the next three years, according to a plan State Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell floated to a state Senate panel on Monday.

The proposed "stabilization" fee of up to $25 per credit hour is intended to partially offset more than $100 million in state funding cuts higher education has absorbed since the beginning of last year, Purcell said. The fees would be separate from tuition.


The rest of the story

Just an FYI the fee's Purcell is talking about are not the same as the student fees that could be used for athletics; the Board of Regents has ruled only Student Self Assessed fees could be used without reducing the general transfer (http://www.regents.doa.louisiana.gov..._2012_0425.pdf)

The fee has to be purposed by the students, approved by the boards, then voted in by the students; the admin can't just add it... This would help the Cajuns more than anyone else, if you can get the students behind it (see ULM's recent failures)

[Just1More]

I thought I heard somewhere that the BOR was going to allow the universities to have more control over how much they charge for tuition? Ami I way off base here?

That was proposed by a state legislator but who knows if it will even make it to the floor for a vote. I think that is what you read.

[CajunAmos]

Just an FYI the fee's Purcell is talking about are not the same as the student fees that could be used for athletics; the Board of Regents has ruled only Student Self Assessed fees could be used without reducing the general transfer (http://www.regents.doa.louisiana.gov..._2012_0425.pdf)

The fee has to be purposed by the students, approved by the boards, then voted in by the students; the admin can't just add it... This would help the Cajuns more than anyone else, if you can get the students behind it (see ULM's recent failures)

Actually, this was changed in the last half month or so. Now your athletic budget doesn't decrease with student assessed fees for athletics, it adds to it.

[CajunRebel]

UL may need a price increase, but the system is now setup to cause tuition to escalate too fast, and college in the not to distance future will be beyond the means of many.

Have you not heard about the student loan crisis in America?

We need to manage our educational dollars much better and raise more funds for our endowments to supplement our total expenses for both athletics and academics.

The student loan crisis arises because the government makes it easy for nearly anyone to get student loans regardless of their ability to pay it back. And unlike most other debts you can't declare bankruptcy and get student loan debt reduced or wiped out.

It's also one of the major reasons why colleges can get away with raising tuition at double the rate of inflation for many years now. There's just too much "free" money out there.

But in Louisiana it's really a different story. College tuition in this state is ridiculously cheap compared to the rest of the nation. UL tuition is way cheaper than it should be. I'm not saying we need to raise it to an unreasonable amount. But when a university has to switch to 4 days a weeks because it can't pay a 5 day a week electricity bill it's time to start raising tuition.

[CajunRebel]

Is TOPS killing this state?

No, but it does come with some unintended consequences.