Colleges Ask Lawmakers To Give Up Tuition Power

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Higher education leaders are again asking Louisiana lawmakers to give tuition-setting authority to college trustees.

Thursday and Friday, leaders asked the Legislature to surrender control over public college and university tuition, The Advocate reports. (http://bit.ly/Reaw1w)

State Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell asked legislators Thursday to consider ceding some control to the four management boards. He said $426 million in state budget cuts since 2008 make it difficult to maintain academic programs and retain faculty.

Friday, Southern system President Ronald Mason told the Joint Budget Committee that systems could build their budgets "more creatively" if given the chance.

Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Joe May said funding per student has dropped from about $4,700 to about $2,200 since 2007-08. Technical schools rely more on state funding than tuition.

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