Louisiana College Tuition Autonomy Bill Nears Final Passage
BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Senate passed a bill Monday granting colleges and universities greater autonomy in setting their tuition and fees. House Bill 862, introduced by Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, allows the boards of Louisiana's four university systems to establish differential tuition rates for graduate, professional, and high-cost undergraduate programs. The bill also grants these boards complete control over mandatory fees. The Senate approved the bill with a 35-3 vote, with Republican Senators Mike Fesi of Houma, Valarie Hodges of Denham Springs, and Blake Miguez of New Iberia opposing.
The legislation was amended to synchronize its effective date with a 2022 law exempting certain graduate assistants from mandatory fees. Due to this amendment, the bill requires one more vote in the House before proceeding to the governor for approval or veto. If signed, the law will become effective on August 1.
Differential tuition, an additional charge on top of base tuition for expensive academic programs, particularly those with intensive lab work like science and engineering, would be identified by the Board of Regents, the state's higher education oversight body.
Currently, Louisiana mandates a two-thirds legislative approval for any tuition changes at public colleges and universities, unlike most other states where such decisions are made by higher education management boards.
Hughes’ bill stipulates that university systems cannot raise fees and differential tuition by more than 10% every two years. However, it allows schools to reduce tuition and fees without restrictions, a provision sought for high-demand fields such as teaching. The bill will not affect the cost of TOPS, the state-funded student aid program, as the awards are no longer directly tied to tuition costs.
Additionally, the proposal gives university systems control over mandatory fees for any program. Tuition and fees at Louisiana universities saw significant increases during the 2010s as the financial burden of higher education shifted from the state to students.
