• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 27, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:30 a.m.

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LSU officials told lawmakers Wednesday that they want to increase student fees to make the campus more competitive.

The proposed operational fee increase would boost the fees that students pay in addition to tuition by $250 a semester.  The increase would only be for students at LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge and would start this fall.

“We want to add new faculty positions. We want to extend the scholarship (program). We’ve got to recruit more graduate students,” said Jerry Baudin, LSU’s vice chancellor for finance and administrative services.

Baudin told a legislative panel that universities in Georgia, Florida and Texas are building research labs and space for key faculty.

“We have the oldest facilities that you can imagine,” Baudin said. “Look around the campus. You don’t see one crane hanging over the campus.”

The operational fee is one of several fees that undergraduate students pay each semester.

Currently, the operational fee at LSU is $80 a semester for full-time undergraduate students, according to the university’s Web site.
House Bill 677 by Rep. Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge, would increase the fee by $250.

At $330, the operational fee would become the second highest fee that students pay to attend LSU.

Tuition and fees for an LSU undergraduate now cost about $4,700 per year. The $250 per semester being sought would increase that annual cost to about $5,200.

The fee could not be paid by the state through the Tuition Opportunity Program for Students. TOPS covers most tuition costs for students whose grades and test scores are high enough to qualify.

The increase could be waived in the case of a financial hardship.

A two-thirds vote of the Legislature is required to raise tuition or fees.

The regular session starts Monday.