College Tuition Increases Proposed To Offset Cuts

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU officials are pitching a plan to raise student tuition and fees by more than $220 million across the state's public colleges next year, to offset some budget cuts.

Schools would use the increased money from students, a slice of federal education money and other budget maneuvers to help reduce the cut to colleges to $107 million in the new fiscal year that begins July 1. That's instead of a cut up to $438 million that's on the table.

LSU System President John Lombardi presented the ideas Wednesday to the Board of Regents. He received general support from the heads of the state's three other university systems, who say they like the concepts but may want to modify the specific plans.

About $60 million of the tuition hikes already are in place to take effect in the 2011-12 year. The rest would need legislative approval.