Tuition will rise; college cuts reduced

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jun 26, 2009 - Page: 6A

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A last-gasp effort to hand over tuition control from the Louisiana Legislature to college management boards died Thursday from a slew of amendments and a lack of time.

But Louisiana’s higher education officials were still mostly smiling by the end of the day because of moves to nearly halve 15 percent proposed cuts to colleges’ state funding.

The proposed $219 million in cuts to colleges were reduced by more than $100 million on the last day of the legislative session in a compromise from Gov. Bobby Jindal, the House and the Senate.

Another $55 million already was cut in January.

Colleges also are increasing tuition by 5 percent in the fall to raise $30 million. The Legislature approved additional tuition increases earlier this week just for graduate school programs.

State Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen described herself as “very appreciative.”

As for the fight for tuition control, Clausen said, “We’ll come back next year.”

Thursday afternoon, state Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Napoleonville, made a final attempt to push through a constitutional amendment that would have allowed voters in 2010 to decide whether higher education should determine its own tuition and fee levels.

Louisiana is the only state that requires two-thirds legislative approval to increase college tuition and fees. That became state law in 1995.

“This is our first chance to see what the public really believes,” Harrison said. “We still control the big number, and that’s the budget. This is the same thing they’ve done in all the other states. They use the budget as a control mechanism, and it’s very effective.”

Harrison was serving as the point man in the House for Senate Bill 183 by state Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie.

“We’ve got higher education handcuffed right now,” said Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington. “We have to allow them to do what they need to survive.”

State Rep. Michael Jackson, No Party-Baton Rouge, and Rep. Avon Honey, D-Baton Rouge, complained that schools will just force students and parents to pay more during a recession while the state is not boosting need-based financial aid.