University of Louisiana Rated Most Affordable in State

[Turbine]

Can you show some evidence of your evaluation Trub?

I think you will have an awful hard job. You have to evaluate the entire package.

Here is the offical budgets for the ULS. You will need to figure students, post graduate programs, and so much more before you can even begain to make an intelligent comment about the state giving UL the smallest amount of money.

http://www.ulsystem.net/assets/docs/...0-%20Final.pdf

Now local politians for decades have used UL, USL, and SLI as a political football. I recall the New Iberia guy who would not let USL raise it's tuition because it just was not right, while everybody else was raising thiers.

You are right, the report I read may have only included UL, LA Tech and ULM. I am not sure now

State Funds
UNO ?
UL $67,809,165
Southeastern $49,950,630
LA Tech $44,220,317
ULM $37,603,072
Northwestern $32,164,188
McNeese $28,793,790
Nicholls $23,417,663
Grambling $19,525,847

[Turbine]

Grabbed from Wikipedia and a spring newsleter from Southeastern

Under Grads
UNO 7891
UL 15,321
Southeastern 14,325
LA Tech 9,137
ULM 7,519
Northwestern 9244
McNeese 7,802
Nicholls 7093
Grambling 4994

[SMD7636]

Now that we know what a bargin it is to attend UL, it should be a no brainer to add a $10.00 to $15.00 per credit hour fee to each student for athletics!!! What a great deal. Get a great education for a great price and for just a few dollars more they also will a great athletic department to go with it!!! Does life get any better!!! LOL!!!

I agree UL needs student athletic fees for better facilities and to put our student athletics in the best position to win. Today The Advocate newspaper reported that the "BRCC student government recently approved a $144 fee for full-time students to fund the school’s intercollegiate basketball and baseball programs." What would it take for UL to approve a similar fee?

[Turbine]

All in all if your goal is to increase student body population, this report is good PR.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Turb, UNO shows up under the LSU System for budget propsals last year. They will now show up in the ULS.


I must disagree, simply increasing student population is not a road to success. We need more post graduate phd programs, more master programs, and many more post graduate students going for those masters, and phd programs. You may notice that our post grads pay a lot more tuition than LTU and they have about four times more students, post grad population being an element in tier one approval. Having our tuition higher for the undergrads compared to LTU and higher for post grads is butt backwards.

Raising the tuition to the appropriate level will insure the students past, present, and future will get the most bang for their buck. You never starve the oxen working the the mill.

[CajunRed]

It's a delicate balance. As we've always done, it's important to do as much as we can with the funds we have. Value should always be a priority. But...at some point, if tuition is not adequate to make up for lost state funds, quality MUST suffer.

Again...the balance between "value" and "quality".

[Turbine]

I must disagree, simply increasing student population is not a road to success. .

Nothing to disagree with, I didn't opine whether or not more students is the right path to success.

I did say "if your goal is"

[Hammer58]

Turb, UNO shows up under the LSU System for budget propsals last year. They will now show up in the ULS.


I must disagree, simply increasing student population is not a road to success. We need more post graduate phd programs, more master programs, and many more post graduate students going for those masters, and phd programs. You may notice that our post grads pay a lot more than LTU and they have about four times more students, post grad populaiton being an element in tier one approval. Having our tuition higher for the undergrads compared to LTU and higher for post grads is butt backwards.

Rasing the tuition to the appropriate level will insure the students past, present, and future will get the most bang for their buck. You never starve the oxen working the the mill.

In addition, I'm not sure many students are looking at tuition costs when choosing a university. With both of my boys recently graduating high school I have been involved in many conversations over the past three or four years with kids and thier parents regarding college choices. Other than mentioning the cost of the private college choices such as Tulane, Baylor, Vanderbilt, etc., no one has mentioned the differences between the Louisiana public universities at all much less as a factor in choosing between them.

[CajunRed]

Other than if a specific major is being pursued and is only offered at certain schools, most kids choose a university based on where their parents went...or which athletic programs they grew up following. At least that is what I did, my wife did, my kids did...all of our friends did...and most of my kids' friends did. I suspect that when my grandkids are of college age, they will attend UL because they've been coming with me to football, basketball, baseball and softball since they were 6 months old. They are Ragin Cajuns. Where else would they go?

[Just1More]

I suppose our charter has always been heavily weighted on affordability. But, aren't most of the other programs in this state and even in our region for that matter? Why does UL have "more charity" than others? I realize we are simply "more affordable", but an appropriate question to ask T-Joe would be... are we inferior? Do we have to provide a cut rate in order to compete? Are our professors from the bottom rung? Is our administration from the bottom end of the administrative pool?

Our tuition ought to be in line with how we percieve our product. If our administration thinks that we are inferior then I can accept that we must offer a bargain price in order to operate. I don't think tution is where you manage the financial hardship cases. You manage the financial assistance piece of education with financial assistance.

Although there is a noble component to maintaining low tuition, there is also a negative perception component. We are very likely viewed as an inferior university "due to" the low tuition. Do not believe otherwise. Some regional students believe we're "the last option" in many cases... because "if they were a more respectable university, they'd be able to charge a higher tuition".

I think T-Joe and others think by keeping the entire tuition down they're helping some student from their home town...perhaps a young man or young lady similar to them at that time in life... and... isn't it wonderful? No, it isn't. That warm and fuzzy story went out with black and white movies. We should be on par with other universities offering similar educational opportunities. Those that need financial assistance should seek it where financial assistance is provided.

Moreover, it was pretty unimpressive when T-Joe took $1million out of the athletic budget. It was a very unfair hit to those that donate to RCAF. Don't kid yourself. For whatever ground we were making up in adding private money to RCAF, we lost a lot of ground having that $1million taken from our athletic budget.

We needed T-Joe to hit his staff and faculty harder with head count and salary reductions... and have them yell back "Raise tuition ______! I'm tired of observing these ungrateful hormonal little creatures not give a rat's rear end about education pay so little for something that will mean more to them than anything else in their entire lives... all the while they can't wait to go get nasty with their squeeze and get a drunk on." (and if you're an ideal student... and what I said didn't apply... and you don't have the money for a higher tuition... go to work and save up or go get a loan - and "pay it back!"... that is someone else's money!)

We have a huge problem in this country because too many people think everything ought to be either free or at least "cheap". It establishes a whole host of terrible personal principles and expectations... and it is killing us. Why is this epidemic mess not already apparent to everyone?

[CajunFan3406]

I got paid a couple grand a year to go to school at UL. Hope that gives you guys an idea of how affordable tuition is. Being "most affordable" isn't something I'd want to be known for.

[Turbine]

There are only two PR avenues out there that will get a mention.

Lowest Price > Current buzz (good or bad)
Medium price > never a mention anywhere at any point in time.
Highest Price > Wow!!! (forget about it) but wait, do you have a scholarship?